Dawn of a New Age
by A-LionGleek
Summary: Five years after finally finding the One Piece, the Straw Hats relax and watch the sunset on Dawn Island. And in the process, reminiscing is made over all the adventures they've gone on and how far they've come, and thoughts are made on the potential future that could yet unfold for them...and for their kids.


**Hey there! Those who look at my profile and current repertoire of stories may not necessarily automatically guess as much, but I am a HUGE fan of One Piece, and have also even entertained the idea of eventually writing a set of 'next gen' One Piece fanfics. Now initially, I was hoping to be able to wait to until the end of One Piece's canon story being released before getting fully to work on them so that I could perhaps incorporate truly as much elements of canon as possible. However, with recent events that have unfolded in some of the last few chapters of the main canon story, I've come to realize that it's time to face reality and just let my stories almost certainly be strictly AU (but still with as much elements of canon incorporated as possible/appropriate for my plans). And that being the case, since I still have a LOT of story ideas from other topics (most notably Teen Titans and Glee) to take care of before I allow myself to fully focus on writing my planned One Piece next gen stories, I now plan, for the sake of all potential readers to get a taste of the glory that could yet be to come, I now present you this oneshot that doubles as both a setup/prologue for my eventual planned stories and as a fanon 'epilogue chapter' of sorts for the main canon story. All that said, hope you enjoy, read, and review!**

**A/N: But first, just let me make it clear that I do not own One Piece. The one with that honor is Eiichiro Oda. And also, there are a couple of theories and speculations used in this that I got inspired to use from seeing them get predicted by other people on the internet. And with all my bases hopefully now covered, let us finally begin!**

**Dawn of a New Age**

The ocean was wild and dangerous. Full of monsters and mysteries, it had claimed the lives of countless people, and would no doubt claim countless more. Even the most skilled, brave, and powerful of people were just as likely to die as they were to survive at the mercy of the ocean. But out of the entirety of all areas of the vast waters, none were more chaotic and fraught with potential lethality than the infamous Grand Line. Fraught with nigh impossible to predict random patterns of weather, savage monsters, and various other hazards and dangers, it took a special kind of sailor to even dare enter, let alone successfully survive. And even out of all of the people who had dared to sail through the Grand Line, precious few of them had even dared consider trying to sail all the way from one end to the other, let alone succeeded in doing such a task.

But as it so happened, there indeed were people who'd done exactly that. But it was the very first such person credited to have done so that had made it all possible for those who followed, successfully or otherwise. And that man, was none other than the infamous pirate, and very first 'Pirate king', Gol D. Roger. A pirate like no other at the time, and with his faithful first mate Silvers Rayleigh, his beyond talented navigator and future queen Portgas D. Rouge, and the rest of their grand and loyal crew of pirates by his side, he had traveled the entire Grand Line from beginning to end, and lived to tell the tale. And even better, he and his crew had managed to obtain a vast number of treasure. All of which they'd chosen to leave hidden on Raftel, the island officially considered the 'end' of the Grand Line; but chief amongst this hidden hoard was one unspeakably valuable treasure known as the One Piece.

Wealth, fame, power. Gol D. Roger obtained all this, and everything else the world had to offer. All as a result of his successful travels through the entire Grand Line. Life could easily have been a truly amazing dream come true for him for the rest of his days following this monumental achievement. But fate was a harsh mistress, and had other ideas. For not too long after the end of their voyage together and the day they'd hidden the treasure on Raftel, the entire crew had gone their separate ways. Only Rogue had chosen to stay with him, but even she he'd eventually been forced to part ways from when fate had chosen to deal an even worse roll of the dice against him than had already been dealt.

He had contracted a terrible illness that would have been guaranteed to eventually kill him on its own if he didn't end up dying earlier through some other means. And in the end, he'd chosen to willingly sacrifice himself to the Marines, the law enforcement and military personnel of the world who'd long since considered him their enemy just like any other pirate. The day of his execution had been swiftly scheduled. And when it arrived, an entire mass crowd had gathered within the East Blue Island city of Loguetown to witness this historic event.

But despite being about to die, and already gravely ill even before choosing to let himself die another way before the disease could kill him, the infamous Pirate King had not been broken. He'd already planned the perfect way to score one last victory against the World Government, who'd hoped that his execution would be the perfect catalyst to end all piracy in the entire world for good, before his death. And the fools had fallen for his trap, hook, line, and sinker the instant they'd chosen to allow him to say some last words. And his dying words drove countless people to the seas.

"You want my treasure?" He'd asked. "You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!" And while the marines selected as his executioners had been _very_ quick to kill him immediately after he'd finished saying those words and they'd realized just what it was he'd been saying, the damage had already been done. For while he hadn't said as much in explicit words, the implication was clear. Whichever pirate next made it all the way to Raftel and found the spot where all his treasure, but most especially the notorious One Piece, was hidden, would be his successor as Pirate King. And so, despite the World Government's hopes, these words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they'd ever dared to imagine. And just like that, the time known as the 'Great Pirate Era' had begun. And over the course of this age, many of the pirates had tried, and many of them had failed. Some had come closer than others, but nonetheless failed.

But in the end, out of all the many pirates who'd dared enter this adventure filled race, one lucky pirate had managed, alongside his own brave and daring crew, despite vicious odds and horrible adversity, to make it to Raftel and find the treasure, including the One Piece. This pirate, and now newly crowned Pirate King, was a young man, never afraid to die, extraordinary in his own way, yet also chillingly similar to Roger in many other ways, named Monkey D. Luffy.

And right now, the lucky pirate himself was currently standing proud at the edge of a cliff on his home island, a rather unremarkable East Blue locale known as Dawn Island. Unremarkable, but nonetheless home to the young pirate king. It was evening, and he smiled, his dark eyes agleam as he watched the glorious sunset currently going on. It had been about 5 years now since that fateful day that he'd finally found the One Piece and become the new Pirate King. A lot had changed since then. And he was proud of it to. And while a lot of hard challenges, difficult choices, and painful losses had been faced both before and after that moment, he already knew that, with maybe one or two exceptions, he wouldn't have changed any of it if given the opportunity to do the whole thing all over again. And right now, as he stood there watching the sunset alongside 8 of his 9 loyal crew members, he found himself feeling very thankful indeed for having such good friends as the ones now standing right there alongside him. His days as a lonely little 'freak' as a child on this very island were very much behind him now.

"I still find it hard to believe at times that we actually did it."

Franky turned his head to face Chopper the reindeer, a smile on his face and his light blue hair well complimented by the light of the setting sun. "I know what you mean reindeer bro. Ow! Super crazy adventure we all went on all those years ago. Ow!" He nodded his head. "But hey, it would be equally crazy to think that the whole thing _didn't_ happen."

The currently 22-year old reindeer doctor thought to himself, currently in walk point, and then nodded. "Heh, I suppose that's true." He looked back at the sunset, an almost childish look of glee on his face. "Anyone agree?"

The other Straw Hats present chuckled. Even now, at his current age, Chopper still acted quite childish.

"I certainly do."

The now 35-year old Nico Robin nodded her head, her eyes closed and a serene look of calm on her face as her dark hair blew gently in the soft breeze. "I will also admit, it is quite miraculous that we all made it out alive after all the various opportunities there were for at least one of us to end up drowned, torn limb from limb, or likewise dead in a horrible and agonizing way."

"Ah," Vinsmoke Sanji exhaled in contentment, his dark blue eyes briefly turning into hearts and his ash blonde hair seeming to turn silver in the light of the setting sun. "Only you could say something so morbid without ruining the mood my sweet Robin Chwan."

Roronoa Zorro snorted, and rolled his single open dark green eye while keeping his arms folded across his chest and his swords in their sheathes upon his back. "Don't let Viola hear that," he grumbled.

Sanji instantly glared at the now 26-year old vertette swordsman upon hearing the snide mentioning of his wife back in the Grand Line country of Dressrosa. "I heard that."

"Good."

Zorro glared right back at the now 26-year old straw hat cook. "You were supposed to."

The two rivals glared sparks between each other, seconds away from getting into yet another fight in their long history of petty battles.

"Ahem."

Zorro and Sanji turned their heads, the latter audibly gulping, and saw Nami looking their way, her eyebrow raised, and a rather disapproving look on her face. The two rivals promptly sweat dropped, and then turned their heads to face the sunset once more, promptly dropping the earlier subject between them. Right now, they had _especially_ good reason not to get on their navigator's bad side.

Nami looked back at the sunset as well, smile back on her face as her long orange hair blew gently in the breeze. The now 25-year old navigator of the Straw Hat pirates really couldn't have felt happier than she did at that moment, brief irritation at Zorro and Sanji almost getting into yet another fight notwithstanding. She could still remember her terrible days under Arlong's cruel and despotic custody. But now, her life, despite multiple ups and downs before and after the fateful discovery, had become far happier than she'd ever expected she'd ever have after becoming a pirate, something that she'd used to hate with a burning venom thanks to her experiences with Arlong.

"Ah, I feel so happy with watching this beautiful sunset alongside so many of my dear friends that I could easily start crying my eyes out with tears of joy. Oh but wait, I have no eyes! Yohohoho! Skull joke!"

The rest of the Straw Hats briefly rolled their eyes at Brook's comment. "You and your skull jokes," said Zorro.

The skeleton musician of the Straw Hats chuckled, and rubbed his skeletal hand through his dark bushy afro. At 95-years old, Brook was still doing quite well in life, or technically undeath. Being the more or less immortal being he currently was, it was only natural.

"Yeah, well just let it be remembered guys, that there were plenty of moments back in those years where we'd never have made it to this current point alive if it hadn't been for me, and for the mighty and brave Sniper King!"

The Straw Hats all chuckled and looked at Usopp. Even at 24 years old, the Straw Hat sniper was still the lovably braggadocios cowardly lion that he'd been during their search for the One Piece. And they loved him for it.

Franky patted Usopp on the back, hard. "You can super say that again bro." The 39-year old cyborg nodded his head. "In fact, I'm sure the same could be super said about all of us."

Usopp pouted at the brief deflation to his ego, and Nami chuckled. Then she looked to Luffy. "You know," she said. "You've been awfully quiet right now Luffy."

The other Straw Hats all thought to themselves, and then looked at Luffy. Now that Nami had mentioned it, their captain _had_ been rather quiet over the last few minutes. Luffy took a deep breath, and then exhaled, sighing in content. He reached up and lifted his iconic straw hat off of his head, letting his short, but messy, black hair flow in the wind. He looked at his hat, briefly remembering what had happened when he'd tried to give it back to its previous owner once his quest to find the One Piece had finished.

. . . . .

(Five years ago)

"What do you mean you don't want it back?!"

Shanks chuckled, a warm smile on his face as he reached up with his single hand and rubbed it through his dark red hair. "I mean I don't want it back. Simple as that."

"But…you said that I had to give it back to you once I'd found the One Piece," Luffy stated insistently, the straw hat that had formerly belonged to Shanks, and had belonged to Roger himself, Shanks's former captain, before him, still clutched in his hands as he held it out towards Shank in a now apparently quite futile attempt at giving it back.

"So I did."

Shanks picked up the hat, briefly taking it out of Luffy's hands. "I will admit, you certainly did keep it in good condition. Though I will admit, there was definitely one moment or two where you briefly appear to have slipped up and needed it repaired."

"Oh yeah, Nami had to sew it a couple times," Luffy admitted, chuckling in spite of himself.

Shanks chuckled back, and then nodded his head. "But back on topic. That promise I had you make to give this back to me once you'd become Pirate King? That was just for the sake of giving you additional motivation, as well as an additional means of proving your worth."

"My worth? Worth for what?"

"Of being Pirate King of course."

Shanks nodded his head, a warm look of pride on his face. "My old captain, your predecessor as Pirate King, trusted me with this hat. In all fairness, I could easily have tried harder to return to Raftel and claim the One Piece and title myself. But in the end, I knew that I wouldn't fit the bill. And so, I took it upon myself to keep it safe until I found the one that I personally felt, no knew, would be a potentially worthy successor for it."

Luffy could only stand still, gaping silently at Shanks, uncertain as to what to do or say. "But," he eventually managed to squeak out. "Your captain trusted you with it, and he was dead. How could you have possibly known who'd be worthy of it? If I would be worthy of it?"

"Some things you just know." Shanks lifted the hat back up to his eye level, smiling once more. "And the day I lost my arm, let's just say that you more than proved yourself worthy in your own unique way. You may have ended up eating the fruit of my old crew's navigator, lacked my old captain's temper, and even occasionally shown off a few traits with considerably more similarity to my old crew's first mate. But everything else about you reminded me so much of my old captain that, in the end, after all you'd demonstrated that day, I decided that, if you weren't worthy, I really didn't know who was."

"But," Luffy stammered. "But what about Ace? He was your captain's own son. Why couldn't you have given it to him."

"Luffy, you knew Ace a lot better than I did. He may have been willing to take his father's title, but tell me this Luffy. Do you really think he would have wanted anything else to do with his father?"

Luffy thought to himself, and then nodded his head, sighing in half fondness over the memory of Ace and half lingering sadness over his 'brother's' tragic death. "No," he admitted. "He wouldn't have."

Shanks nodded his head, a clear 'I rest my case' look on his face. "Don't get me wrong Luffy, Ace would have made a fine pirate king in his own way. He was already technically a pirate prince after all by virtue of having the previous king as his father. But in the end, he chose to give that chance up in favor of saving you."

He briefly gazed at the x-shaped scar on Luffy's chest, all that remained of a savage burn that the dreaded admiral Akainu had inflicted upon him over the course of the Paramount War at Marineford. And the admiral had been more than willing, capable, and prepared of dealing another blow not long afterward that would almost certainly have killed Luffy, if Ace hadn't jumped in the way in time to take the blow instead.

Then he looked back in Luffy's eyes. "Ace may have taken a while to come around to it after first meeting you, but he loved you like a brother. And he obviously both still loved you that way and thought you'd be a worthy pirate king when he saved you and died at Marineford. And while I don't have that same brotherly love for you that you, Ace, and Sabo shared, I still consider you worthy just as much as Ace himself clearly did. And with you having successfully found the One Piece, and with everything that's unfolded over the last few days since, you've only proven me and Ace more than right in those beliefs."

He shook his head briefly, a bemused look now coming on his face "I will admit, the world will certainly never be the same after all the chaos that's unfolded. But as much as I mostly tried to keep things peaceful up to the point it all started unfolding, I suppose I'll get used to it in time. I certainly know Makino and Goda knows how many others will."

He took one last look at the hat, and then back at Luffy. "But to make a long story short, you're the pirate king now, and have proven me and Ace both very much correct in believing you to be worthy. And now that you're king, well, a king does need a crown. Roger chose to let this hat be his crown despite being more than capable of choosing to use a more traditional crown, and he trusted me enough to let me keep it safe for him in the time it took to find a worthy successor."

He slowly started lowering the hat back towards Luffy's head. "And now, with you as the new pirate king, I believe that this hat will be just as appropriate of a crown for you as it was to Roger, and no doubt would have been for me or Ace if either of us had ended up becoming pirate king instead." He finally placed the hat fully back in place on Luffy's head. "And now that you're king, I can assure you that you'll now need this crown much more than I will."

Luffy briefly looked upwards towards where Shanks was now holding the hat back in place upon his head. Then he sniffled, and had to wipe slight tears from his eyes once Shanks had retracted his hand from the hat. "I…thank you…Shanks. I…I don't know what to say…"

"Then don't say anything," Shanks suggested firmly, but kindly. "At least not yet. For now, do something, anything you think would be appropriate."

The redhaired captain of the Red Hair pirates, and former loyal crew member of Gol D. Roger himself, looked to the sun. "In his dying words, my old captain and former king was able to spark the beginning of a new golden age for all piracy. And years after his death, his friendly rival White Beard managed, with his own dying words, to spark a 2nd such major era for piracy. With you as the new king, you now have the opportunity, in one of your first actions of your well and truly unchallenged reign, to spark a 3rd such era. Of course, considering all that's happened over the last few days since you found the One Piece, such an era may very well have already begun at your hands. But whatever you do or say today within the next few hours following the end of all that chaos could yet be a major deciding factor that determines whether or not it truly lasts and leaves an impact."

He nodded his head, proud smile returning to his face. "But I trust that you will have no problem in succeeding in such a task."

Luffy gulped, thought to himself, and then nodded, a warm smile of his own on his face as he gazed in the eyes of his old idol. "Thank you…Shanks. I…I promise I'll do my best…like I always do."

"And that's all you need to promise when it comes to me."

Shanks took one last look at the sun. "Well, I suppose I'd best leave now. I'm sure Ben, Roux, Yasopp, and the rest of my crew still alive after all this chaos are waiting for me. And I'm sure it probably wouldn't hurt to drop by Makino's to let her know completely for sure that I'm alright after all those scares." He looked at Luffy. "And not to order my new king around, but I get the feeling you might want to do the same within the near future, and that's without considering how much Dadan might want something similar as well."

Luffy chuckled. "I'll add that to my to-do list."

"Let's hope there's not too much else on that list beforehand." Shanks turned to start leaving. He briefly looked back as he walked over to the rowboat that he would use to return to where his crew was waiting for him. "And when you do get around to dropping by Dawn Island for the first time since you left to start your little journey, feel free to let your crew come with you. I'm sure there won't be any argument to that idea on either side."

"You read my mind," said Luffy.

"And I didn't even need to use observation haki for it."

Shanks gave Luffy a final farewell gesture with his single hand. "I'll see you again someday Luffy. Don't let me down as king."

"I won't Shanks," said Luffy, a wide grin on his face and his eyes closed as he gave the redhaired pirate captain a 'thumbs up'. "Shishishi. I can promise you that!"

. . . . .

(Present Day)

"Luffy? Luffy!"

"Oh right, sorry Nami," said Luffy. The now 24-year old captain placed his hat back on his head, and then turned to face his 8 expectantly waiting crew members. "Well, to be completely honest, I don't really know what to say." He shrugged. "I mean, what could I say now that hasn't already been said?" He shook his head. "I mean, we did it. We made it to Raftel. We found the One Piece. We achieved all our dreams. And we even managed to seriously shake up the entire world in the process." He shrugged again. "What more can I say at this point?"

The other Straw Hats thought to themselves.

"I must admit," Robin stated. "Captain san does have a point."

"Though I will admit this again," Luffy then said, his usual face splitting grin on his face. "I still think it was seriously awesome when we finally entered the cave with all the treasure after arrival on Raftel.

His crew nodded and mumbled instantly in agreement. Absolutely none of them, even with their knowledge of the legends, had at all been expecting just what they'd ended up finding within the cave where Roger and his crew had hidden their treasure all those years ago. Jewels, coins, precious metals, priceless other sorts of valuable stuff, the final poneglyph Robin still needed to find without later claiming the one that had been in Blackbeard's clutches. All of it more than fit for a king. But of course, even all that had seemed to pale in comparison to the One Piece itself.

Even now they still couldn't forget it. The legends had always been vague about just what it was. Even Roger and his crew had refused to elaborate on it that much beyond the most infuriatingly simplistic of descriptions. But now they themselves had the same knowledge of it that Roger and his crew had. It had turned out to be a what appeared to be a large sword, with a solid gold pommel and a blade divided into seven segments, each such segment seemingly made literally from a different type of gemstone, yet all fused together so impossibly well that neither segment could be separated without shattering the entire thing beyond hope of easy repair. And as if that weren't crazy enough, it had also turned out to somehow have an impossibly gobsmackingly vast amount of pure unadulterated haki stored inside the blade.

All 9 of the pirates briefly shuddered at the memory of that detail. Even the ones who didn't have haki themselves were able to tell from the moment they first finally laid eyes on the One Piece that the amount of haki inside it was so strong that it would likely cause untold amounts of damage if unleashed. And they'd ended up finding out _exactly_ how much damage it could cause when they'd ended up fighting Blackbeard himself, plus his crew, only a single half hour later…and they'd ended up finding out completely by accident to!

. . . . .

(Five years ago)

Luffy snarled, his eyes blazing with rage, teeth gritted, and his hands clenched into fists as he stared the infamous Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach himself, face to face, within the now empty gaping cavern where all the treasure had been before its removal and subsequent transferal to the Raftel beach. It had been almost an entire hour since Blackbeard and his crew had arrived and the resulting titanic series of battles had begun. And so far, things were hardly going well, to put it lightly. Initially they'd been left to deal with Admiral Aokiji, their old enemy and former warlord Gecko Moriah, and most of the underling members of Blackbeard's ten ships while Teach himself had tried to make off with all the treasure alongside the 9 members that, alongside him, made up the 10 titanic captains. And even with all of them working together, they'd still only managed to defeat and knock out Kuzan, Moriah, and the underlings in time to only just barely head off Teach and the other captains. And from there, they'd ended up unwittingly splitting up to fight each other one on one.

Even now Luffy could hear the sounds of the battles between his 9 crew mates and their respective opponents thanks to his observation haki. He heard the sound of Zorro's swords clashing valiantly against the single massive dagger wielded by Jesus Burgess. He could hear the rapid running footsteps of Sanji and the immensely disgraced former Impel Down warden Shiryu as they ran around helter-skelter in their own vicious duel, with Sanji clearly having even more difficulty than he'd have already had otherwise thank to his opponent's having managed to eat the Suke Suke no Mi after killing the invisibility fruit's former wielder, Moriah's former zombie associate Absalom. He could hear the sound of multiple gun shots and snaps of a slingshot as Usopp clashed with the nightmarishly skilled sniper Van Augur. He could hear beastly roaring as Chopper, currently in monster point, fought a ferocious battle against the unspeakably vile Avalo Pizarro, who had revealed himself to have eaten the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Manticore. He could hear the flapping of Lafitte's wings as he used his own angel zoan fruit to fly around while swinging his mighty cane in his duel with Robin. He could hear Nami panting and gasping as she tried desperately to hold her own against Catarina Devon, who at that point was in full body Kyubi no Kitsune mode as she chased after the orange haired straw hat navigator, snarling, slavering, and letting out her distinctive laugh as she did so. He could hear the sound of what appeared to be shockwaves going off as Jinbei the fishman helmsman and former warlord did battle against the abnormally large, even by normal giant standards, Sanjuan Wolf. He could hear various shouts of "Strong right" from Frankie, and the distinctive drunken giggling of Vasco Shot as the two did battle. And he could even hear Brook's cheerful distinctive laugh, increasingly angry growling of Doc Q., and the galloping footsteps and whinnying of Stronger as the immensely sick horseback riding doctor did battle against the skeleton musician. All of them were clearly going through the ringer.

And he himself wasn't necessarily doing that much better. At this point, he was now only a few minutes away from reaching the of his time limit for using Gear 4th, and Teach still hardly seemed even close to going down.

"Zehahahahahahahahahaha!" Teach howled, a gleeful open-mouthed grin on his face as he laughed. "You've fought well Straw Hat!" He yelled. "You've put up a good game! But you have won nothing!"

Luffy growled, his fists clenching even tighter, too angry to even realize just how almost painfully tightly his right hand was now gripping the handle of the One Piece in its clenched fist state.

"You cannot defeat me Straw Hat! No one can! Not even you! And what's more, you'll soon be in a more than ideal state to allow me to finally end this battle with only the bare minimum amount of additional effort. Don't deny it boy! You don't have much time left now before your current state of power ends and you are left powerless, unable to even move! And once you're at that point, you'll be completely helpless to do anything as I kill you! And it's not like your precious crew have it any better! I know you can hear how they're currently faring against my own trusted Titanic Captains!"

And at that moment, Luffy found himself infuriatingly hearing the sound of each of the 9 Titanic Captains' distinctive laughs going off alongside the panting and gasping of his crew mates as they grew progressively weaker.

"You're wrong," Luffy spat, desperate to keep it together. "It may not look like it, but my crew and I will win! _I_ will win!"

"Zehahaha! I'd love to see you keep trying!"

Blackbeard shook his head, amused grin still on his face. "But face the facts Straw Hat! You've already lost!"

Without warning, he unleashed a shot of the Gura Gura no Mi powers he'd managed to somehow acquire after the death of that fruit's previous user Whitebeard to go alongside his Yami Yami no Mi powers. Luffy shrieked in surprise and pain as he was sent flying backward against the cavern wall behind him upon getting hit.

"You cannot defeat me!"

He let off another shot.

"Gah!" Luffy howled.

"You cannot defeat me!"

Another shot. Another scream.

"No one can!"

Another shot. Another scream.

"Your brothers, Ace and Sabo, couldn't defeat me!"

Boom!

"Gah!"

"Your own father and grandfather couldn't defeat me!"

Boom!

"The admirals themselves, Fujitora, Kizaru, and Akainu couldn't defeat me!"

Boom!

"Sengoku couldn't defeat me!"

Boom!

"Whitebeard couldn't defeat me!"

Boom!

"My own fellow Yonko, and your precious idol, Shanks himself couldn't defeat me!"

Boom!

"And if I had ever gotten the chance to fight against Shanks's former captain and Whitebeard's old friendly rival, I'm entirely convinced that not even _he_ would be able to defeat me!"

Boom!

"And you and your precious friends most definitely won't be able to defeat me either!"

BOOM!

"GAH!"

"Zehahahahahahaha! Admit it Straw Hat! You have no chance against me! You barely even had any to begin with! Give up now Straw Hat! You've lost! You and your friends are going to die soon enough anyway! So you might as well make it easier on yourself now! While you still can!"

Luffy hissed, his eyes narrowing with a venomous glare in them. "I'D! RATHER! DIE!"

"Then die you shall!"

Blackbeard raised his hands, both of them glowing with the distinctive shadowy energy of his Yami Yami no Mi powers. And then, with a triumphant laugh, he sent a gigantic stream of it pouring against Luffy.

The young captain hissed in pain as the shadowy energy crashed into him. The pain, combined with the still ticking of the soon to end time limit of his Gear 4th state, was almost enough to make him collapse and lose consciousness.

"Zehahaha! Prepare to join your brother boy! Prepare to die!"

"Yah!"

"Aroo!"

Blackbeard briefly paused, all the other sounds of battle briefly coming to a halt as well at the sound of Nami's shriek, Devon's howl, and a burst of what, a few minutes later, they could all now feel appeared to be conqueror's haki. For what seemed like an eternity, Luffy and Blackbeard gaped in the direction they'd heard the shouts and felt the presence of haki.

"Was," Luffy thought to himself in shock. "Was that…Nami?"

But then, about a minute or so after the haki had dissipated from the area, the sound of Devon growling split the air, followed by a snarling yelp, which in turn was followed by a surprised and pained shriek from Nami.

"GAH!"

"Murunfuffuffu," the kitsune woman laughed as, outside the sight of Luffy and everyone else on the island, she leaned her head towards the face of the woman she'd just now pounced on. "A very good try, and quite an unexpected move. I'm sure that with a little time and training, you'd be just as much of a master at this rare art as your precious captain. But unfortunately, your time has come to end! Any last words?!"

Luffy heard Nami sniffle, seemingly on the verge of tears. "Lu…Luffy," he heard her say. "He…help…me."

Devon only laughed upon hearing this, a sound that made Luffy feel suddenly immensely angry even while still completely engulfed by the suffocating shadowy energy of Blackbeard's attack. He clenched his fists even tighter, feeling an impossibly vast amount of haki larger than even the largest amounts he'd mustered up prior to this moment swell up inside him, completely unaware that not all of it was necessarily coming from him. "No," he thought to himself. "I'm not going to lose now. I'm not going to die now. Not like this!"

"Well, it would appear that your precious navigator will be the first of your crew mates to die," Blackbeard purred. He chuckled. "And you shall not take long to follow!" In a flash, he resumed adding more dark energy to his attack.

But Luffy was no longer being affected. Completely ignoring the suffocating effect of the darkness around him, and also the pain he'd already been inflicted with beforehand, as well as even his own rapidly depleting energy, he stormed his way through the darkness. After only a single minute that felt impossibly longer from his point of view, while Devon was still laughing in triumph while preparing herself mentally for the killing blow she planned to deal against Nami, the rest of the Titanic captains were giggling as well as they waited to hear their associate deal the coup de grace to the Straw Hat navigator, and the other Straw Hat pirates were panting and gasping, so weak that they could barely even stand, let alone escape their own paused battles to try to help Nami, Luffy stepped completely out of the darkness of Blackbeard's attack. The older pirate captain gaped, his eyes widened in stunned shock.

"What the?! How?!" Teach yelled, gaping incredulously at the sight of Luffy standing tall after having literally walked right out of the darkness attack despite his increasingly weakened state.

"YOU'RE WRONG!" Luffy roared. "I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE AGAINST YOU! I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE TODAY AGAINST YOU! AND NEITHER IS MY CREW!"

He drew back his right fist, mustering up just the right amount of energy for one final strike.

"I'M GOING TO DEFEAT YOU TEACH!" Luffy roared, feeling the raw power in him burn savagely as he prepared himself for striking the devastating blow he was currently preparing to send the terrible rival pirate's way. "I'M GOING TO WIN! WHY?! SIMPLE!"

He started swinging his right arm in circles as he wound up his attack. "I AM MONKEY D. LUFFY! I'M THE CAPTAIN OF THE STRAW HAT PIRATES! I'M THE ONE WHO MADE IT HERE TO RAFTEL BEFORE YOU! I'M THE ONE WHO FOUND AND CLAIMED THE ONE PIECE BEFORE YOU! I! AM! THE! PIRATE! KING!"

In a flash, he sent his right fist rocketing straight at Blackbeard's stomach, his right arm extending with it. And with a resounding 'BOOM', his fist pounded into the villainous pirate's stomach, sending him flying backward before coming to an immensely painful stop with his back against the cavern wall opposite the one Luffy had been sent flying into.

Teach slammed against said wall with a colossal impact, causing the wall to crumble, and attracting the attention of both captains' respective crews. Luffy unclenched his fist and drew his arm back to normal length, glaring hatefully into the stunned face of his enemy. But it wasn't until the Straw Hat captain had noticed the almost white-faced looks of shock on their faces when he looked back at Blackbeard and nearly turned white himself when he saw the One Piece stabbed into Blackbeard's stomach. He gaped at the sight of the impossibly valuable treasure jammed into his rival's stomach. He'd completely forgotten that the One Piece had been in his hand when he'd used the hand in question for his recent attack.

He looked at his right hand, still shocked and uncomprehending at what he'd just managed to do. Then he heard a weak chuckling coming from ahead of him, and he looked back at Teach, who now seemed to have an oddly respectful look on his face.

"Zeehaha," Blackbeard chuckled weakly. "Well, it would appear I _was_ wrong. You have defeated me. We both put up a good game, and I've lost. I guess you're an even more worthy opponent than I was already starting to consider you to be boy." He weakly wrapped his left hand around the hilt of the One Piece. "Well then, I suppose this is the end for me. Your time has come boy. Long live the king. Zeehahaha."

Immediately after Blackbeard had said all this, the sound of rapid pounding and throbbing began to fill the air as the One Piece started to glow and pulsate with raw haki. Luffy had just enough time to fully realize just what was about to happen, only to then collapse onto his back as a result of Gear 4th finally ending, when the One Piece then suddenly unleashed an explosive shockwave of impossibly powerful haki.

. . . . .

(Present Time)

Chopper shuddered at the memory of what had unfolded immediately after that impossibly powerful explosion of haki. "I still can't believe we all made it out alive after that, and with the One Piece and all the other treasure to."

"I know how you feel," Sanji agreed. He shuddered as well. The haki explosion had been powerful enough to cause the entire cavern and mountain on Raftel to start crumbling and collapsing. The Straw Hats had only just barely mustered up the energy to run. But they'd only further increased their own risk of getting crushed in the avalanche when Nami had just simply refused to leave without Luffy, with the rest of the crew all gradually agreeing to go with her to get their captain out safely. And while it had taken a serious amount of effort and luck, they had managed to get their captain up on his feet so they could sufficiently drag him along with them, reclaim the One Piece from Blackbeard's stomach, and make it all the way back to the beach where the Thousand Sunny and all the Raftel treasure still waited in time to avoid getting crushed to death by the crumbling mountain. Crazily enough, Kuzan, Moriah, and a sizable number of the Blackbeard pirate underling crew members had also managed to escape while the Straw Hats were busy going back for their captain.

But Blackbeard himself, plus his 9 Titanic Captains, were not so lucky. Blackbeard himself had already been fatally wounded by the stab wound Luffy had accidentally given him with the One Piece and had died instantly the moment the haki explosion had gone off, whereas his 9 most high ranking crew members, all left too weak, mind addled, and paralyzed by the haki explosion to react in time, had all ended up crushed to death under the rubble of the collapsing mountain.

"I still can't believe that I actually killed him," Luffy admitted. He shook his head side to side. "I'd completely forgotten that the One Piece was even in my hand when I punched Teach. And that haki explosion? I _never_ would have expected that to happen."

"Well at least his death was accidental."

Zorro nodded his head after saying this, an almost sage like look of somber resignation on his face. "That's certainly more than can be said for what happened to Kaido."

"Oh yeah, that's right," said Nami. She shuddered at the memory, and so did most of the other Straw Hats. Over the course of their time in Wano, so much had gone horribly wrong, so much drama and losses, both genuine and near genuine, had been suffered. The despotic governing official of Wano, Orochi, and his own henchmen had been difficult enough to deal with, but the truly gigantic and damn near invulnerable Yonko Kaido and his infamous Beast Pirates had truly been a nightmare to deal with. And the fact that Kaido had also formed a temporary alliance with Big Mom hadn't helped.

And over the course of the titanic battles that had unfolded after the disastrous results of the previously planned major battle, it had seemed very possible indeed that nothing could stop Kaido and that the Straw Hats and their various present allies were doomed. But Zorro had by that point managed to both be gifted Kozuki Oden's sword Enma and receive the necessary training and ability to forge a similar black blade of his own in time to wield both of his new Wano black blades alongside Wado Ichimonji in a death defying duel against Kaido, who at that point had already used the power of his devil fruit to assume his nightmarish dragon form and been about to deal a killing blow against Luffy. And eventually, when Kaido had gotten enraged enough to the point that he'd flown above Wano and started to prepare a burst of his breath attack that would have potentially reduced all of Wano and everything/everyone on it, including his own men, to ash, Zorro had been left with zero other choice but to jump from the roof of a building to Kaido's level and deal a devastating killing blow to the vicious Yonko. From there, everything had toppled over gradually further and further in the Straw Hats' favor. For while Orochi and his men had still put up a decent fight after Kaido's death, they'd still seemed like almost child's play to defeat without assistance from Kaido and the Beast Pirates. But even after the Straw Hats had finally left Wano afterward, the entire crew had still needed a decent bit of time to fully come to terms with just what Zorro had ended up forced to do.

Zorro nodded his head at the memory. "I apologize once more for what I did at Wano, captain. I know that you would have likely preferred him to be defeated in some other way that would have left him forced to watch his dream never be fulfilled, especially since his finally dying in combat against a worthy opponent essentially _was_ his dream."

"You did what you had to do," Luffy stated, staring firmly, but kindly, at his faithful first mate. "I know I would have preferred him to have perhaps been defeated in another way. But as was all too clear at the time in which you did it, there simply was no longer any other way possible. If you hadn't jumped up at him with your Wano blades and sliced him through the heart, Kaido would have killed all of us. And I already forgave you for all that in the time it took to reach Raftel after Wano and our time at Elbaf." He gestured towards the rest of the crew, who all nodded in agreement. "We all did."

"I understand that." Zorro nodded. "But nonetheless, I've still done everything in my power to try my best to prevent similar situations from reaching that point."

"And your effort is much appreciated. But again, you don't have to beat yourself up over it. I mean, you did save all of us, not to mention managed to save Sabo as well in a roundabout way."

The rest of the crew promptly agreed, including Zorro. As it so happened, Sabo had ended up captured by the World Government after a screwup on Sabo's part in a planned infiltration of the Reverie going on at the Government's 'Holy Land', and been set for execution once news had reached the government as to the outcome of the chaos going on in Wano. They'd been so confident in being able to successfully have him executed in fact, that they'd even had the newspaper writers outright lie by publishing a story that said that Sabo had already been successfully executed. But this had come to utterly chomp them in the ass when, after news had reached them of Kaido's defeat and Orochi's downfall, the World Government and their supporters had been so stunned and caught off guard that Sabo had managed, with help from the secretly infiltrated Jewelry Bonny, the roboticized Bartholomew Kuma (whom Bonny had tampered with enough to allow him to at least briefly regain his old humanity and memories), and even Fujitora (though not in any way that would have been obvious or easily confirmed by anyone who asked him later), to escape back to safety. And when he'd later revealed himself publicly to still be alive about a week later, the news had been one of several things that would eventually lead to even more chaos for the Government, to put it lightly. And as if that weren't enough, the same level of distraction and shock that had been placed upon the government by the news of what had happened at Wano had also been enough to allow several of the then newly arrested warlords, most notably Dracule Mihawk and Boa Hancock to successfully escape back to freedom as well.

"Indeed," Nami agreed. "And hey, if you thought the fights against Kaido and Blackbeard were hard, need I remind you about how we had to battle the admirals on No Man's Land after we finally left Raftel?"

The entire rest of the crew promptly whistled and winced as they remembered _that_. Just a single hour after they'd loaded up the treasure and departed from Raftel on the Thousand Sunny, which had surprisingly still been able to get fixed back to viable sailing condition despite the vicious bombing it had fallen victim to at the hands of the Beast Pirates in Wano, they'd started sailing past the massive and completely barren island in the same stretch of sea called No Man's Land before then getting blocked off by none other than the admirals themselves, whom the World Government had sent after the Straw Hats in a last ditch attempt at taking out the Straw Hats before they managed to successfully cause the Government's hold on the world, already damaged by several events, most recently the reveal of the lies about Sabo's death and the later reveal of the mass escape from Impel Down that had come from Blackbeard choosing to hijack Sabo's broadcast and reveal the information himself, to be even more destabilized than it already was.

And after first being almost sunk by the cannons on the admirals' ship, the Straw Hats had managed to safely beach the Sunny upon No Man's Land in time for the Admirals to arrive with their personal forces and do battle with the Straw Hats from there. The Straw Hats had still been weak and not fully recovered from their battles against the Blackbeard Pirates, but they'd still been able to power through and hit back with everything they had. First they'd fought their way through all the subordinate marines that the admirals had brought with them. Then they'd been forced to split off once again when the four admirals had decided to deal with the pirates themselves. Kizaru had jumped into the fray first, forcing the Monster Trio to split off from the rest of the crew still battling the underling marines in order to take part in a rematch of sorts against him.

And once Kizaru had been defeated, the monster trio themselves had been split up when Sanji had found himself dealing with Fujitora, Zorro had ended up dealing with Ryokugyu (who had subsequently revealed himself to have eaten the Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Hakutaku), and Luffy had been forced to do battle against Ace's killer himself, his hated enemy Akainu. And to say that the resulting ordeal had been difficult would have been an immense understatement.

. . . . .

(Five years ago)

Luffy panted and gasped, several serious burns on his body as he stared down the hated Admiral Akainu. It had taken a considerable amount of haki on his part to prevent the burns on his body from being any worse than they already were, let alone avoid getting the parts that were burned completely melted away instead. Akainu stared back at Luffy, snarling and slavering like a dog in his rage. In his mind, this battle should have been easy. But instead, the young pirate who he'd been entrusted to either arrest or kill, but preferably kill, after killing that same pirate's 'brother' two years prior was still standing and able to fight.

"You should be dead Straw Hat!" The fleet admiral roared, his arms once again taking on the form of liquid magma as he prepared another attack. "That last attack should have completely melted down every part of you beneath your neck!"

Luffy snarled, a small drop of blood slipping out of his cracked lips before he then brushed it away with his arm. "You're gonna have to try harder than that Akainu," he growled, venom in his voice and death in his eyes. "You killed my brother, a young man who committed no crime, simply because Roger was his father."

"THAT ALONE IS CRIME ENOUGH!"

Akainu clenched his lava hands into fists. "ROGER WAS ONE OF THE WORST PIRATES IN THE WORLD! AND DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT'S MOST NOBLE OF EFFORTS, HIS SON SURVIVED THE ATTEMPTED PREVENTION OF HIS BIRTH! HE HAD ESCAPED THE JUSTICE THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEALT UPON HIM BEFORE HE WAS EVEN BORN! HE NEEDED TO DIE FOR HIS CRIMES!"

"No. You and the government needed to kill him because you couldn't accept that your precious absolute justice wasn't true justice at all. Because you couldn't punish Roger himself anymore for allowing piracy to continue past his death and needed someone else to punish in his place. And it's for similarly stupid and petty reasons that your precious government had panda man kill Tom the shipman, and you yourself personally made Robin's people almost completely stinky!"

"THAT'S _EXTINCT_ YOU MORON!"

Akainu sent a spout of magma spewing from his right arm, the rubber man just barely managing to leap out of the way in time. The admiral turned his head to face Luffy once more, growling in fury. "THAT'S WHAT HAD TO BE DONE!" He barked. "IT HAD TO BE COMPLETE AND THOROUGH! ALL OF IT! THAT'S WHAT JUSTICE IS BOY! BOTH THE ONES WHO COMMITTED THE CRIMES, AND ALL EVEN SO MUCH AS TANGENTIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE SAME CRIMES HAVE TO BE PUNISHED, WHETHER IT BE BY IMPRISONMENT, DEATH, OR BOTH! ONLY THROUGH THAT CAN THE WORLD BE TRULY AT PEACE AND LEARN NOT TO ALLOW SUCH CRIMES TO EVER HAPPEN AT ALL!"

"You may call it justice," Luffy hissed. "But that's the thing. It's only justice by name. True justice is only punishing those truly deserving, leaving those who only tangentially contributed in the most harmless of ways, and even risking the criminals getting away if it means keeping innocents from dying. Coby follows it, Smoky follows it, and I wouldn't be surprised if your blind purple cloak man admiral secretly follows it to!"

"WELL THEY'RE ALL FOOLS! REAL JUSTICE IS ABSOLUTE! AND I _WILL_ CONTINUE TO ENSURE THAT SUCH JUSTICE IS WHAT CONTINUES TO BE CARRIED OUT TO ENSURE TRUE PEACE AND ORDER UNDER THE WORLD GOVERNMENT! AND IF I HAVE TO KILL YOU AND YOUR EVIL CREW TO LET THAT HAPPEN, THEN SO BE IT!"

"The only evil one I see is you."

Luffy nodded his head, a determined look in his eyes. "And you're the only one who's going to die between the two of us." He raised his right hand, clenching it into a fist. "As a general rule, I don't kill, if only for the sake of letting my enemies live to experience the agony of being forced to live to see their plans fall apart around them and their dreams completely and utterly fail to ever come true. But with the exception of continuing to carry out your twisted sense of false justice, you don't have a dream of your own. And that, combined with you killing my brother, is all the reason I need to make an exception out of you. And unlike Blackbeard, your death I plan to have be completely on purpose!"

"Brave words coming from a whelp such as you," Akainu snarled, the magma his arms had turned into bubbling and steaming with heat. "But you'll need impossible luck to even hope to achieve such a feat. You may have successfully lasted this long against me boy, but you won't come out of this fight alive, not if I have anything to say about it!"

"Well than good thing I'll kill you before you even get the chance," Luffy hissed, already slowly raising his arm into position so he could bite it and activate Gear 4th.

Akainu raised his eyebrow at the sight of this. "A bold move you're about to do," he admitted. "And very risky on your part. Assuming I don't kill you myself while your still in that state of power you're about to activate, then there'll be no other outcome to unfold but your own death if you fail to defeat me before your time limit in that state runs out."

"It's a risk I'm more than willing to take if that's what it takes."

"Then out of respect for just how long you've already managed against me, I'll allow you the chance to try."

The admiral rammed his right fist against his left palm, an emotionless glare on his face. Then his entire body turned to magma and the resulting amorphous mass of molten rock expanded to the size of a mountain before then taking on the form of a gigantic three headed dog made completely out of magma. "Don't keep me waiting _boy_," the center head snarled, practically spitting out the last word. "It's time we both end this _now_."

"Wish granted."

Luffy and Akainu both had time for their eyes to widen upon hearing this unexpected additional voice in the area before they both turned to face the voice's direction in time to see Nami standing on top of a nearby cliff while pointing her sorcery clima-tact at the sky directly above Akainu. "Weather Egg Rain Tempo!"

The attack was launched into the sky, at which point it exploded and unleashed a torrent of rain down upon the giant three headed magma hound. The beast had roared, and swung its paws around in an attempt to strike Nami, only to release the water stored within the rocky walls of the canyon he and Luffy had been positioned in, adding to the water already pouring on him from the rain tempo Nami had summoned. Luffy had only escaped purely by giving into gut instinct and jumping up to where Nami was positioned before he could get himself engulfed by the water as well. By the time Luffy had fully reached Nami's position and all the rain and water had disappeared, Akainu had been completely solidified into rock.

As Luffy gaped at the statue that had once been his hated enemy, Nami panted and heaved, and then blew some smoke away from the tip of her clima-tact. She then glared at the statue. "That's for making my captain cry," she snarled.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Nami looked to her right, her eyebrow raised at the sight of the stunned, half angry, and half sad look on her captain's face. "I'd say I saved your life. A 'your welcome' would be nice."

"You don't understand!" Luffy pointed at the statue. "He was mine to defeat! MINE!"

Nami sighed, and nodded her head. "I know how you feel about Akainu." She looked at Luffy, a now much calmer and sympathetic look on her face. "But you wouldn't have lasted much longer if I hadn't just now helped. I know you're freakishly strong, and had haki backing you up. But look at yourself, you can barely even stand now. You could barely even stand when I arrived. If I'd allowed you to attempt what you were about to do, there was too much chance that you'd lose and die. And I'm sorry Luffy, but I couldn't risk that."

Luffy panted and gasped, his mind conflicted over what Nami had told him. "But…I…Nami…"

"Please Luffy," Nami stated, her face still sympathetic and understanding. "You had your fight with him, and now, with some help from me, you've won. Please, accept as much." She nodded her head, a warm smile on her face. "You'd already done so much for me. It was about high time I did something for you."

Luffy thought to himself, sighed, and then let a half warm and half sad smile come on his face. "I suppose that's true." Then he glared past Nami at the statue that Akainu had been turned into. He prepared his fist. "But at least let me smash that statue."

Nami quickly stepped in between Luffy and the edge of the cliff. "I can't let you do that Luffy," she then stated upon seeing Luffy's face take on an irritated glare.

"Nami," said Luffy. "Get out of the way."

"Luffy, I'm serious."

"So am I. Please Nami, get out of my way."

"And I'm telling you again, that I can't do that."

"Can't? Or won't?"

"Both."

The oranginette nodded her head, her pinkish brown eyes determined, but not unkind, as she gazed at her captain. "I can't let you cross the kind of line you're about to cross, so I won't let you do what you're now planning to do."

"Nami, you know what he did to Ace!"

"Yes," Nami admitted, a matter of fact tone to her voice. "Yes I do."

"Then you know that I have to kill him!"

Luffy prepared his right fist once more, tears of rage and grief building up in his eyes. "I have to kill him! I HAVE TO!"

"No you don't."

"YES! I! DO!"

"Luffy, if you kill him, you could all too easily risk ending up becoming somewhat just like him. You've already killed Blackbeard."

"That was an accident!"

"And what you're about to do to Akainu won't be."

"This is different! He doesn't have a dream! He'll be perfectly acceptable as an exception!"

"Luffy, killing him won't bring Ace back."

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!?"

Luffy snarled, the tears in his eyes starting to swell up, his teeth gritting into a mix between a sob and a snarl. "I KNOW KILLING AKAINU WON'T BRING MY BROTHER BACK! I KNOW IT! BUT IF I KILL HIM, THEN I'LL AT LEAST BE ABLE TO FEEL JUST THE TINIEST BIT EXTRA BETTER ABOUT IT!"

"How?"

"Because then I'll have fully made up for Ace's death!"

"What do you mean fully made up for it?! I thought you'd already grieved enough over it! And how does that have anything to do with killing Akainu!?"

"It has everything now to do with that!"

"How?!"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"Try me!"

"Nami, I don't have time for this! Just get out of the way and let me smash him!"

"WHY?!"

"BECAUSE IT'S MY FAULT ACE DIED!"

The resulting silence was almost as deafening as what Luffy had just shouted. For what felt like an eternity, Nami gaped at the now panting, gasping, and still on the verge of tears Luffy.

"You…you're fault?"

Luffy sniffled, and nodded his head.

"B…but…how?" Nami stammered, completely dumbfounded by what her captain had just said. "You're not even the one who killed him!" She pointed at the petrified Akainu. "He is! Or better yet, if you don't think he has enough blame for it, give some to Blackbeard! He's the one who brought Ace over to the World Government, and you've already managed to kill him!"

"BECAUSE HE MIGHT STILL HAVE BEEN SAVED IF I HADN'T WAITED SO LONG BEFORE TRYING TO HELP HIM!"

Luffy sniffled, and nodded his head, tears coming closer and closer to trailing from his eyes altogether as he looked at Nami's half stunned and half saddened face. "His vivre card had started to burn and shrink not too long after our time at Thriller Bark. I thought he was perfectly fine and able to handle himself then, and so I had us all continue onward in our own voyage."

"Luffy," Nami stated, her voice filled with compassion as she worked to cheer her beloved captain up. "You couldn't have known just what sort of situation Ace was in at the time. None of us could have known for sure."

"That may be true," Luffy admitted. "But knowing what we know now, it just makes that decision seem so much worse in…um…what is it called? Rear sight? Rump sight?"

"Hindsight."

"Yeah that. In hindsight, it just feels so much worse. Specifically, that I doomed him the instant I chose to have us continue onward instead of going immediately after Ace to save him."

"Luffy, we weren't strong enough than. Moriah himself had made that clear, even if we didn't completely believe him at the time."

"But we still would have all been there. It wouldn't have just been me. Heck, we might have even been able to get him out to safety before he'd even reached that prison if we'd gone after him just that tiny bit sooner."

"You don't know that."

"No I don't," Luffy admitted. "But it still could have been done, and that's the problem."

He nodded his head, now finding it increasingly difficult to hold back his tears. "And that's why I have to kill Akainu. Not only is that the only way he _can_ be punished since he doesn't have a dream of his own to live in torment over seeing unfulfilled, but it's the only way I can be forgiven anymore for allowing him and Teach the opportunity to successfully kill my brother."

He hung his head, sniffling once more. "Ace's death? It's because of me. It's my fault. It's my…fault…"

In that instant, he finally lost it, closing his eyes and letting himself start to cry. It was at that point that Nami wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug, letting her captain cry on her shoulder.

"It's ok Luffy," she said as Luffy sobbed on her shoulder. "It's alright."

"No it's not," Luffy whimpered. "It's my fault he's dead. It's my fault."

"No it's not," Nami whispered soothingly. "There are only two people truly responsible for his death. One is already dead and the other is now turned to stone right behind me. You had no fault in it Luffy. I don't blame you for it. Sabo didn't blame you for it. Even Ace himself didn't blame you for it. Nobody blames you for it but you."

She stepped back, placing her hands on Luffy's shoulder as he lifted his head to directly face her once more, his tears starting to slowly wind down. "There, there," she said. "Like I said. Everything will be fine. The rest of us are alive and alright. Bruised and battered, but alright." She let a sad smile come on her face. "And besides, you know Ace better than I ever did. Would he have wanted you to do what you were just now planning to do?"

Luffy sniffled again. "No," he managed to admit.

"I thought so."

Nami nodded her head. "Come on Luffy. You've already won now. We all have. Let's just go."

Luffy sniffled one last time, and then nodded his head. "You're right. Of course." He straightened up. "Let's go find the others."

The Straw Hat captain and his navigator turned, and started to walk away from the petrified Akainu to rejoin their crew mates. However, they'd only taken five steps each away from the statue before it suddenly started to crack; and not in the way that Luffy had earlier planned for it to start cracking.

The sound of cracking stone, followed by hissing steam, was enough to make Luffy and Nami pause in their departure. "Um Nami," Luffy managed to say when the two turned their heads to look nervously in each other's eyes. "I'm not the only one hearing those noises behind me right?"

"Nope."

They looked back in time to see first the center head of Akainu's giant three headed magma dog form, and then the rest of him, break free from the stony encasing that Nami had allowed him to be trapped in. He let out a savage roar, and then turned his three heads to face the now white-faced and terrified pirates who'd initially battled and trapped him not too long ago, snarling and slavering.

"I should have known that you'd be talked down into chickening out of killing me boy," the transformed admiral snarled, his red 'eyes' burning. He snarled again, baring the 'teeth' of all three of his current form's heads. "Yes, I heard you and that witch talking just now. You and her are so devoted to each other you'd gladly jump right into the ocean if she so much as asked you to do so."

"It's nothing like that!" Luffy screamed.

"You've completely got the wrong idea!" Nami hissed.

"Please, you could have fooled me."

Akainu snarled again. "You're just as much in heat for him as that whore Rogue was for Roger, and as that bitch Star was for your precious captain's father, my treasonous former friend, Dragon!"

He lifted his front 'paws', and then slammed them down on the now once again dry canyon floor. "It has been said," the transformed admiral snarled, his eyes now narrowed straight at Luffy, "that Rogue once talked Roger down from killing that senile fool you call a grandfather. And now, your own navigator has talked you down from killing me. Well now you and she shall both regret that moment of repeating history. For now that I also know that none of my brethren had the guts or strength to defeat your foul crew mates, there is now no longer any reason for me to hold back against the two of you in this form!" He abruptly reared all three of his heads back. "Magma hound eruption breath!" The three heads snapped forward, spewing streams of magma from their jaws straight towards Luffy and Nami!

. . . . .

(Present Day)

Luffy and Nami both shuddered as they remembered how the battle against Akainu had unfolded from that point onward. It had taken an insane amount of luck, power, and haki to successfully hold their own against the increasingly enraged admiral as he attempted everything in his power provided by his magma hound form to kill them both. And eventually, right as the two pirates and the admiral had reached the point where they were only a few miles away from where the rest of the Straw Hats were now waiting following their own victories, the admiral had completely lost it and chosen to initiate his ultimate move, Magma Hound Never-Ending Expansion.

In the resulting rapid expansion of magma that had ensued, the Straw Hats had only just barely managed to reach the Sunny and get the ship fully back into the water and in the process of sailing away before Akainu's last ditch attack had consumed the entirety of No Man's Land in magma, callously killing Kizaru, Ryokugyu, and the marine underlings present in the process. And he'd even managed to extend a giant hound head from his expanding magma form in a final attempt at snapping his resulting jaws around the ship before the sea water had finally turned him completely to stone once more, leaving him helpless to avoid being subsequently blasted to pieces and killed by continuous impact against him from the strong ocean waves as the Straw Hats escaped on the Sunny with Fujitora, who had already earned Luffy's favor and respect through implicit assistance in letting Sabo escape, as well as from their encounter at Dressrosa, and had now chosen to at least temporarily throw his lot in with the Straw Hats when they'd offered him the chance to escape on account of both the surprising degree of honor they'd shown compared to his fellow admirals and the now increasingly insane fanaticism for absolute justice that Akainu was making impossible to deny was the truth.

But even with Akainu's downfall, the world had still had plenty of chaos to undergo. For mere days after departure from the final stretch of the Grand Line and subsequent nearing of the nearest marine base, the entire world had undergone the ultimate shock when none other than the secret ruler of the entire world himself, Imu had deliberately revealed his existence to the entire world. At this point, the hidden king, in fact an immensely powerful Skypiean similar to the Straw Hats' old enemy Eneru, had been so beyond outraged at the continued survival of Luffy and the Straw Hats as well at the deaths of three of the most powerful marines and implicit betrayal of a 4th, had chosen to throw all caution and reason out the window and allow his existence to be made public to the entire world.

And at that point, now equally enraged over how a vast number of the world's people were starting to grow increasingly discontent with 'loving his style of world peace and benevolent rule', he'd chosen to instead make the entire world cower in fear of an obvious tyrant. And as his first act, immediately after callously using the powers of a nameless fruit that had been forbidden from ever being consumed by a mortal such as him for religious reasons to kill all of the Elder Stars and trap the Celestial Dragons on a separate island just off the coast of the Red Line, he had declared war on the Straw Hats while also daring anyone who wished to join in alongside him or them to come take part as well.

And from that point, the Straw Hats, plus a massive number of Revolutionaries, remaining members of Whitebeard's old crew, pirates, and other warriors of various divisions had all arrived at where Imu had demanded he be met to start the war he'd declared. And in the ensuing chaos, there had been multiple casualties. Most notably, Ace's old friend and fellow Whitebeard crew member Marco the Phoenix had been amongst the first to die after he'd been blasted through the heart by Imu's 'holy light' beams when the now no longer secret king of the whole world had still been addressing the newly assembled army willing to fight him and what few loyalists he still had, all for no other reason than to prove that he was serious.

But only minutes after Marco's death, a truly epic series of battles had ensued. Massive amounts of damage had been dealt to Mariejois and other areas that served as the World Government's 'home continent' on the Red Line. But the truly biggest battle of them all had occurred between Luffy and Imu. And even more crazily, not only had Sabo managed to join in, but so had the completely unexpected, and wreathed in flames, spirit of Ace. And from there, the three brothers had managed to fight an epic battle together against the vile king of the world just long enough for Nami, whom Luffy had entrusted with the One Piece prior to his battle against Imu for precisely the task she'd ended up doing on his suggestion, to stab the One Piece into the Stone of Unity, long revered in the legends to be the main foundation point for the Red Line after the 7 separate continents it had once been had ended up joined together through the powers wielded by the poneglyph writer Joy Boy. And as a result of the haki within the blade being unleashed, the entire Red Line had, as Joy Boy had tragically predicted would need to happen when he'd written the poneglyphs, split apart back into the 7 separate continents it had once been. And over the course of the splitting of the Red Line, not only had Fishman Island also been affected by the resulting shockwaves to the point of complete destruction as Madame Shyarly had predicted, but Imu himself had ended up falling, kicking and screaming, to his death in the water that had filled up one of the gaping fissures that had erupted into existence over the course of the Red Line's splitting. And from there, the rest had been glorious history.

Franky whistled as he remembered all the chaos that had unfolded over the course of the 'war' against Imu. "Talk about a royal pain. Ow!"

"You know, speaking of royalty."

Sanji looked to Zorro, a smug smirk on his face. "I still can't believe you turned down the chance to live as royalty in Wano!"

Zorro sighed, and rolled his eye in annoyance. During their adventures in Wano, it had come to light that, much to his own shock as much as everyone else's, he was a member of one of Wano's most high profile families. Specifically, he was a distant relative of none other than the samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma, whose zombie he himself had personally fought on Thriller Bark. And ever since that knowledge had become public knowledge amongst the Straw Hats, Sanji had _never_ let Zorro live that fact down, let alone the fact that he'd chosen to stay with them instead of staying in Wano and taking full advantage of the honor and prestige he would have been treated with as a legacy of the Shimotsuki family.

"I've already told you before," Zorro grumbled, "I'm a warrior, not a politician. That kind of life would not have really worked for me. Besides." He folded his arms across his chest. "I've really gotten far more accustomed to working for a living alongside you guys. And that in mind, I'm not entirely certain that the Shimotsuki family is quite the same level of prestige as being outright royalty like the Kozuki family."

"Same difference," Sanji purred, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Well need I remind you that you turned down life as royalty as well, Mr. 3rd in line for the Germa Kingdom throne?"

Sanji chuckled, not letting the jibe about his own royal lineage affect him. "Oh, but I've since married right back into royalty!" He struck a pose as if to say 'behold'. "Feast your eyes, on consort of Princess Viola of Dressrosa! And that's certainly more than can be said for you! You turned down chance to live as a royal in Wano, and married a commoner marine!"

Zorro snarled upon hearing these words. "Yeah well, you know what? If you really want to get on someone's case for turning down the chance to be royalty, get on _his_ case!" He pointed at Luffy as he said those last few words. "Last I recall, _he_ turned down the chance to literally be king of the whole world!"

For three whole minutes, silence hung in the air as all 9 Straw Hat pirates let this fact sink in.

"Huh," said Sanji. "You're right. I completely forgot about that."

As one, all the 'underlings' looked to their captain, who nodded his head, a solemn look of understanding on his face. He remembered very well exactly what Zorro had now brought up.

. . . . .

(Five years ago)

Luffy glared, half in rage and half in triumph, as he stood before the panting and gasping Imu, a similarly glaring Sabo standing to his right and the likewise glaring spirit of Ace hovering to his left. "It's over," the Straw Hat captain growled. "Your plan, your reign, and your precious world order is over."

The king of the world hissed, his red eyes almost literally blazing with fury. At this point, he barely even had the energy to summon any of his 'holy light' beams, let alone use any of the other powers that came with the forbidden devil fruit he'd dared to eat against Joy Boy's scriptures, yet still having just enough energy to stay standing before them. "Damn you," he growled. "By all that is sacred, damn you!" He pointed his finger accusingly at Luffy. "You ruined everything! The whole world is devolving into the very same levels of chaos and discord that Joy Boy himself worked to put a stop to over the course of the Void Century! And it's all because of you! You've ruined everything boy! You've ruined the whole world!"

Luffy narrowed his eyes. "You're wrong."

Imu raised his eyebrow, his own red eyes narrowing just like Luffy's dark black ones. "You dare say something like that to your god, boy?"

"You're not Goda Imu."

Sabo snorted, and shook his head side to side, his blonde hair seeming to briefly glow in the light of the sun and all the fire he and Ace had set around various parts of their battlefield. "And you're certainly not the 2nd coming of Joy Boy that you claimed to be all those years ago when you fooled the Elder Stars into obeying your every whim."

Imu snarled, now even more angry thanks to what Sabo had just now brought up, and he pointed his finger at the young revolutionary who'd once been a young world noble. "The original Joy Boy was a naïve fool! He believed too firmly in idealism and peace without violence or sin! He didn't have the balls to make the necessary hard choices, sacrifices, and moral transgressions needed to _truly_ ensure the kind of peace he desired! But that's why I've since made it all right by doing the very things he himself should have done, and all in his own name to! Or at least, that's how I _had_ everything before so many revolutionaries like yourself and pirates like your brothers broke it and sent it all to Hell all over again!"

"Once again, you're wrong."

Ace nodded his head, the ethereal flames coating his ghostly body flickering and burning in the light. "You accuse us of breaking the world, but you yourself, and your precious World Government had already broken it by taking Joy Boy's own ideas and twisting them into hypocritical and sinful shells of what they were supposed to be, and all under his own name!" He nodded his head again. "Revolutionaries and pirates like myself and my brothers may have made things difficult for you, but you and your blind sycophants and false saints already broke the world by corrupting Joy Boy's old idealistic and good intension laden vision of peace and turning it into a dystopia in all but official name!"

"My brother is right," said Sabo. He nodded his head. "And we all may have helped speed up the inevitable, but you and your precious World Government only helped make it possible by causing just as much damage, if not more, as we did in your own efforts to both eradicate us _and_ maintain your own twisted sense of peace at the same time. In fact, one could even go further than that and claim that the world was destined to be fixed in a more chaotic way as Joy Boy himself predicted in the poneglyphs would need to happen the instant you chose to allow Roger the right to last words before his execution!"

Sabo and Ace looked to Luffy, who merely nodded, a smile on his face. "What can I say? My brothers already said it better than I could!"

Imu snarled, his red eyes still burning with hate. "Well you can believe whatever you want," he hissed, spitting out the words. He took a step forward, his right fist clenched, red eyes blazing, and white hair seemingly turning golden in the harsh light of the sun and flames around him. "But I can still make things right again. I'll I need to do now is destroy the three of you right now, and the One Piece with you so that the prophecy of the Red Line's splitting can never be fulfilled, and I'll be free to continue ruling the world as I should and ensuring that it will never again be capable of so horridly falling astray and off the path to paradise!"

"Well that would be just fine for you, except for one thing." Luffy smiled, his eyes closed and usual cheeky grin on his face. "I don't have the One Piece!"

At this point, Sabo and Ace gaped in surprise at their brother.

"What?!" Sabo yelled.

"How?!" Ace screamed.

Even Imu looked stunned, and also confused. "You don't have it?" He shook his head. "What do you mean you don't have it?"

"I mean I don't have it. Shishishi. Simple as that!"

"But…all this time you spent…trying to keep me from getting it from you…"

"Technically, I said that, if you want it, you'd have to go through me. I didn't say I had it on me. All this time you've spent here? My brothers and I were keeping you distracted long enough for a friend I chose to temporarily trust it with to take it where one of my other friends said it needed to go." He opened his eyes, smile still on his face. "And I have the kiss for luck to prove it!"

At this instant, Sabo and Ace made a silent 'oh' as they put two and two together and managed to realize both just how clever a plan Luffy had enacted as well as just which two friends Luffy had now been referring to.

Imu narrowed his eyes once more. "Well if you and your brothers don't have it here with you now, then who is this 'friend' of which you speak of who _does_ have it?"

"You're the one with Joy Boy's powers," said Luffy. "Why don't you use them and find out?"

"Very well then. I will." Imu paused, using his powerful observation haki, heightened to the same levels as Joy Boy's thanks to his sacrilegious eating of the same fruit that Joy Boy had been gifted the right to eat so long ago, to figure out where the One Piece was.

"Ah, I see where it is now," said Imu, his voice briefly taking on a smug and triumphant tone as he briefly felt he had the chance to still secure victory for himself. "Your precious navigator has it. I will admit, not a bad choice. But all I need to do is reach her and get the One Piece from her so I can destroy it. Now where is she? Where is she? Where is…"

His red eyes widened, his face turning as white as his hair as he realized just where she was. "She…she's…she's standing right next to the Stone of Unity! That's…that's three miles away from here! She's preparing to step onto it so she can stab it to! I…"

He turned his head to look behind him, now starting to sweat as the full horror of what was about to happen finally started to sink in. "I have to stop her!"

He turned around to start running in the direction of the Stone, but a gum gum whip from Luffy tripped him up before he could even take two steps. Imu snarled, outraged and desperate, and fired a weak 'holy light' beam from his hand towards Luffy. The rubber man shrieked, just barely leaning backward in time to avoid getting blasted right in the face, losing his balance and falling flat on his back in the process after Imu used another beam to blast the path segment right next to his left foot. The World King snarled triumphantly, and scrambled back to his feet, only to then be blocked off by Sabo and Ace after he'd only taken 5 steps forward.

"Not gonna happen you bastard," Sabo growled.

"Get out of my way!" Imu roared. "As World King, I demand it!"

"And I'm telling you again," Sabo snarled. "Not gonna happen."

"You dare defy your God like this?!"

"There's only one true God in this world," said Ace. He let a smug smirk come on his ethereal face. "And it ain't you."

Imu snarled. "Why I ought to," he managed to snarl, drawing his right fist back to throw a punch; only to then be blasted backwards by a wave of fire from Sabo. He growled in rage and pain from both the blow and the subsequent impact, and started scrambling to get back to his feet, only to be further delayed in this effort by Luffy jumping onto his back and wrapping all four limbs around him like snakes. The World King thrashed and writhed against the tight grip, letting out a mix between a sob and a snarl as he struggled desperately to free himself from Luffy's rubbery embrace. After what felt like an eternity, he managed to cause his left palm to become engulfed in a weak aura of 'holy light' before then slamming it right across Luffy's forehead. The Straw Hat captain shrieked, reflexively undoing his constricting embrace on the World King as he instinctively worked to get away from the searing pain on his forehead. Imu managed to get back to his feet, only to then be sent briefly sliding backward by twin streams of flame coming from both Sabo and Ace, which he eventually countered by letting a weak twin stream attack of his own 'holy light', an almost demonic look on his face as he fought with everything he had, despite his current state of relative weakness, to fight off the three 'brothers' in time to reach the Stone of Unity…

A flash of haki suddenly went off in the distance.

For what felt like an impossibly long time, all was silent and still, Imu and the three brothers gaping in the direction of the Stone of Unity, the former's entire face once again the exact same shade of white as his hair as both his beams and the flames from his opponents flickered harmlessly to a stop. "No," the World King managed to say in an almost impossibly quiet tone of voice. "No…no…no…"

The three brothers smiled, but none more so than Luffy. He had just now quickly used his observation haki in time to see that, exactly as he'd told her to do, Nami had already started running like Hell to try to reach as safe of a distance as she possibly could only two seconds after stabbing the One Piece into the all important Stone. "Good work Nami," he thought to himself, a strange feeling of warmth flaring up inside him as he did so. "I knew you could do it."

The three impossibly long seconds finally ended, and Imu swiftly started to run in the direction that would lead to the stone once more. At this point, there were now only minutes at best before the all important eruption of impossibly powerful haki was unleashed for the 2nd time since its being claimed by the new Pirate King, and the World King knew it. "I…I have to get it out!"

Sabo reacted instantly after hearing this, blasting Imu onto his backside with a fireball.

"Oof," Imu hissed as he landed, briefly placing his hand on the charred area of his robe that had just been blasted. But he quickly forced himself to put this to the back of his mind. "I have to stop it…I have to stop it!"

A flaming kick to the face from Sabo interrupted his thoughts and knocked him right on his back. He hissed from the pain, only to then be grabbed by the hair by Luffy, who promptly dragged him backwards and threw him against a nearby column. The World King howled in agony as he felt his back briefly crack against the now likewise cracking and buckling column.

But the World King was not one to give up easily, and he started trying to resume his desperate effort immediately after landing back on the ground, only to be blocked off by the three brothers once more. He let out another hissing mixture between a sob and a snarl as he raised his hand to blast them out of the way, only to let out that same incoherent noise of despair yet again when his hand only managed to very briefly flicker and weakly glow before the holy light completely faded out of sight and refused to come back. He'd now finally exhausted all his energy and power, just as would always eventually be the case for a pretender like him who'd dared to eat the fruit that had only ever been explicitly permitted for exclusively Joy Boy himself, and he now had next to no means of properly fighting his way out.

The three brothers chuckled. "Looks like you've finally run out of fuel," Ace snarked.

Imu hissed in despair. "I don't have time for this," he stammered. "I need to get to the Stone!"

The three brothers all took a single step forward in unison right as Imu took a single step towards them, firm glares of determination on their faces. "Forget it," Luffy spat. "We're not gonna let you."

"Boys…please," Imu stammered, his red eyes turning almost pink from terror, something he'd never once thought in all his many years of life so far that he'd ever feel before this current moment. "You can't do this…"

"Really?" Luffy asked, a mock innocent tone to his voice. "It looks to me like we just did."

It took all of Imu's willpower not to let out his humiliating hiss of despair yet again. "Boys, I mean it; you have to get out of my way; right now! The Stone of Unity…it's been stabbed by the One Piece…"

"Yeah, thank you captain obvious," said Ace.

"I'm serious!" Imu panted and gasped, small hints of moisture starting to form in his eyes as his desperation and despair continued to increase. "The Red Line! It can't be allowed to split back up again! It mustn't!"

"Says who?" Ace asked.

"Yeah," Sabo added in. "It was always going to do so again eventually. Joy Boy himself, the man whose name you even now dare try to continue defiling? He said as much himself, and even wrote into those poneglyphs your precious government tried so hard to erase from existence! And with everything that's gone down, it might as well be now, whether you like it or not."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Imu gasped, briefly tangling his fingers into his hair as he worked desperately not to completely lose his mind. "What you're saying…I can't allow it! I can't! I…I have to stop it!"

Luffy had already unleashed another gum gum whip before Imu had even finished his sentence, tripping him up and knocking him back on his back literally the second the World King had said the last word of his current comment. The World King hissed and sputtered in pain, now working once again to scramble back to his feet.

"Look," Imu managed to say, now sounding impossibly calm despite the current circumstances. "Maybe we can do this peacefully. There's still time…and if I haul ass, I might still be able to withdraw the One Piece from the Stone before it goes off!"

"Yeah well, not happening," said Luffy nonchalantly.

"I'll do anything!" Imu roared, his terror and despair now becoming increasingly more undeniably apparent as he desperately wracked his mind for something he could say to get the three brothers to see reason. "I'll pardon you," he shrieked, pointing his finger at Luffy. "I'll pardon all three of you! And all your friends to! And anyone else you want! I'll completely expunge your criminal records as well if you want!"

"Please, stop embarrassing yourself," said Ace.

"I'll hold a truce! I'll change the laws! All of them! Just say what changes you want, and I'll make sure they happen!"

"Hate to break it to you," Sabo stated, not sounding sorry at all. "But at this point, all those promises are just too little, too late."

"Boys please," Imu hissed, now just barely keeping his voice from taking a higher pitch. He looked to Luffy once more. "I'll make you a warlord," he stammered, now completely forgetting in his panic that the entire system of the Warlords of the Sea had been disbanded just a month or so ago. "I'll let you join the Marines! Maybe become an Admiral even!" He winced upon seeing the narrow eyed glare that came on Luffy's face upon hearing these suggestions. "I'll make you a Yonko! No, better yet, I'll appoint you to a seat amongst the Government! Or wait, even better! I'll make you a Noble!"

He let out a despairing gasp as the three brothers only continued to advance towards him, slipping and landing on his butt in his efforts to keep his distance between them. "I'LL LET YOU SIT ON THE EMPTY THRONE!"

For a brief few seconds, time seemed to stand still.

"Yes, you heard me," Imu stammered, now desperately hoping that perhaps he'd finally gotten his way in. "I'll let you sit on the Empty Throne! You're already Pirate King, but why just stop there!? And hey, you're really only a king now by means of an empty title without any true political bearing or merit! Why not make yourself a real legitimate king in the traditional sense of the word!? And rule the entire world while you're at it!? I'm sure there's plenty you'd be willing and able to do with _that_ level of prestige and power!"

"Hmm, tempting…"

But then Luffy directed his usual cheeky grin at the now quite hopeful looking Imu. "But no."

Imu did a wild take.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" The World King roared, now incredulous with shock at what he'd just heard. "DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?!"

"Yes. I said no."

"DO YOU NOT HAVE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHAT I'M OFFERING RIGHT NOW?!" Imu roared again, now getting even more desperate and panicked than he'd already been. "YOU COULD BE KING OF THE ENTIRE WORLD! ITS GOD EVEN!"

"Yeah well, like you said, I'm already Pirate King."

Luffy nodded his head. "And that's good enough for me. I mean, it is what I've wanted all my life since I was little. Not to mention, I may not be the world's smartest man, but I'm pretty sure that being King of the entire world would keep me _way_ to busy to go on adventures and do all that other fun stuff I've always been able to do so far and can now continue to do even more of now that I'm king of the pirates! And like my brothers just said." He let his cheeky grin return to his face yet again. "There's only one true Goda. And he certainly isn't me!"

Imu hissed once more, now almost completely losing it. "WELL NEVER MIND ANY OF IT THEN!" He darted forward. "JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY! I HAVE TO STOP IT! I HAVE TO…"

Luffy downed him once more with a single gum gum pistol to the face, sending him pounding face down on the floor with a thud. Hissing and wheezing, Imu tried desperately to scramble back to his feet, just barely avoiding once again letting out his humiliating sob snarl mixture at the sight and sound of Luffy and his brothers rushing towards him again. And what was worse, he could now practically _feel_ just how little time was now left before the One Piece finally unleashed the devastating eruption of haki that would split the Red Line back into the 7 separate continents it had been in the time of the infamous Void Century.

"Stop…STOP!" He managed to grab onto the bottom of Luffy's vest, yank him down, and then grab onto both of his lapels, allowing them both to get positioned so that they were looking each other face to face. "Just…LISTEN TO ME!" he snapped as he shook Luffy back and forth.

The once proud Word King, now well and truly broken and reduced to a pathetic and stammering shell of his former self over how everything he'd known, everything he'd desired, everything he'd wanted, all came crumbling down around him, leaned his head closer towards Luffy's face, small tears starting to slowly slide out of his once proud and intimidating red eyes. "Boy…Luffy," he stammered, still trying desperately to maintain what impossibly tiny bit of dignity he still had. "You…you don't under…stand…you…what you're about to do…it can't be allowed to happen…it can't…I have to stop it…you have to let me…"

"Why?" Luffy growled, damn near spitting out the word as he finally started to slowly come close to losing his patience altogether.

"Why?! You even need to ask!?"

Imu panted and gasped. "It's always been like this! Ever since Joy Boy let it come together into one single form before the end of the Void Century! And the whole world, everything we know about it from the end of the Void Century to now, has all come to exist and be the way it is entirely around this! What you're about to do…if you let it happen…the entire world will change! The entire world…everything you know…none of it will ever be the same again!"

"So what?"

Luffy clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes, his brothers standing just behind him, not at all daring to interrupt. "Things change. People change. Places change. Times change. Rules change. Worlds change. Everything changes. Change is inevitable. It's the natural way of the world. And it's not like the world hasn't already changed before. It's changed plenty of times, so many times that not even the people who are smarter than me can count them all. What's one more?"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WILL HAPPEN! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW THE WORLD WILL BE AFFECTED! WHAT KIND OF CHANGES WILL ENSUE AFTERWARD! OR EVEN DURING IT ALL!"

Imu hissed and wheezed, his eyes now half lidded and almost completely blind from tears. "HAVEN'T YOU CAUSED ENOUGH CHAOS?! DAMAGED THE WORLD ENOUGH?! THE WORLD MAY NOT BE PERFECT, THE WORLD GOVERNMENT AND I MAY HAVE ONLY BROKEN IT IN OUR EFFORTS AT MAKING IT PERFECT! BUT IT'S STILL A WORLD! THERE WAS STILL AT LEAST _SOME_ TINY DEGREE OF BALANCE AND ORDER!"

He paused just barely long enough to wipe his eyes clear, and then looked back in Luffy's eyes. "You have no idea whether the world will ever be at all peaceful or orderly if you let Joy Boy's prophecy of the One Piece and the Red Line be fulfilled. Hell, you have no idea if the world will even be viable, let alone worth living in even if it _is_ viable after what you're about to let unfold. If you let the One Piece split the Red Line back to its original state, you could end up dooming the world to becoming just as chaotic and dangerous as it was during the Void Century or earlier, or possibly even more so!"

The World King nodded his head, undid his left hand's grip on Luffy's right lapel, and then pointed his left finger straight between Luffy's eyes. "And if that happens, you'll be the one forever feared and reviled as the monster, the demon, the villain, who allowed it all to happen."

Luffy narrowed his eyes even further. "What's so wrong with that?"

"NO!" Imu screamed, his red eyes widened and face pale in despair.

As this happened, the One Piece, still stabbed into the very center of the Stone of Unity was starting to glow and throb increasingly swiftly and loudly with haki, now only 10 seconds away from unleashing the all-important discharge.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!" Imu despairingly roared literally the instant the One Piece reached the 6 second mark and then swiftly went down to 1. And the instant the invisible countdown finally reached 0, the One Piece proceeded, for the 3rd time in its life, to unleash its impossibly vast amount of haki.

. . . . .

(Present Day)

Luffy nodded his head once more at the memory of what had happened next. The instant the One Piece had gone off, the resulting discharge of haki and the shockwaves it had produced in the process had caused the entire Red Line to start cracking and crumbling, with gaping fissures opening up and massive slabs of stone and earth detaching from their long held positions and tumbling down to the ocean, if not outright crumbling to dust, as the Red Line started, with gradually increasing speed, to split apart and become the seven separate continents that it had been before Joy Boy's merging them together into one. At the same time this happened, Fishman Island, already evacuated, also started to crumble and burst apart as the destruction that Madame Shyarly had predicted finally came to pass.

One of the fissures had split the floor of the 'temple' where Imu had done battle with Luffy, Ace, and Sabo at the very center. And by sheer chance, it had been positioned just perfectly to allow Imu to fall inside. And he did, Luffy only just barely being prevented from falling in as well thanks to Sabo and Ace grabbing him in time for Imu's grip on their brother's vest to unwillingly be lost. The World King had fallen, kicking and screaming all the way into the sea water that had started erupting into the chasm. Miraculously, Imu had survived the impact, only to instantly be rendered still doomed to die by virtue of being paralyzed by the effects of his fruit reacting to his being in the ocean water and leaving him with no other choice but to sink to the bottom of the sea and drown. And once he'd died, Joy Boy's fruit, which Imu had committed an unspeakable sin in eating, reformed back where Joy Boy had initially decreed for it to be kept locked away for all time that remained till the foretold end and his equally foretold true 2nd coming. And this time, it would hopefully stay there forevermore.

From there, so much had happened that Luffy still found himself surprised at times that he'd made it out alive. But his old electric duck 'friend' Billy had happened to arrive in time to carry him and Sabo back to the safety of the rest of the army who'd fought alongside him against Imu and his forces, with Ace's spirit having since departed back to the afterlife. And from there, so much more had happened that Luffy still couldn't fully process it all at once without getting a headache.

From a geographical standpoint, all maps had been rendered in desperate need of updating and redrawing. Naturally, the Red Line had now been reduced to 7 separate landmasses across the equator. Fishman island was naturally in need of being erased from the maps altogether. Miraculously, all the other landmasses in the world had been mostly unaffected. The waters from all four 'blues' had merged together into a single gigantic circular area near the three central continents of what had once been the Red Line, allowing the true All Blue to finally come back into existence after so many countless centuries, much to Sanji's awe, shock, and indescribable joy. And on another note completely unrelated to geography, the rebirth of the All Blue had also allowed, mere seconds after said event had occurred, to allow Brook to finally reunite with his old friend Laboon the whale without even needing to sail straight back to Reverse Mountain.

And from there, the life changing events and historical moments had only continued to keep happening. Mere days after all the chaos had happened and Shanks had departed, the poneglyphs and the secrets they'd contained had all been allowed to become public knowledge, what was now known as the 'Old World Government' had been completely disbanded and gotten a new system, appropriately called the 'New World Government', set up in its place. And the world's political environment hadn't been the only major cultural element to get restructured. The Marines had likewise been restructured. The field admiral position left vacant after the death of Akainu had ended up being granted to Aokiji (who so far was still in that position even now despite his continued claims of it just being temporary). And of course, the rest of the Marines had similarly been restructured as needed, with one notable change being that none other than Luffy's old 'frenemy' from the very beginning of his journey, Coby, had ended up appointed, as he'd come to start wishing for, to the rank of admiral. And while the warlords of the sea had remained disbanded, a new set of Yonkos had been appointed as well, with Shanks being one of, if not the only previous member to remain a Yonko. And all the pirates, revolutionaries, and other members of the 'army' against Imu had all parted their own respective ways; with some ending up back in Impel Down, others scattering into the winds, and even more peacefully settling down in safety and peace. And surprisingly enough, Luffy and the Straw Hats had gone so far as to keep half of all the treasure they'd gotten from Raftel (a sizable enough amount in and of itself) and place both the remaining half _and_ the One Piece itself back into hiding, but this time in a completely different hiding place that they even now shuddered to think about, all under the hopes that someday another worthy successor to Luffy's current title would eventually find it again. And of course, there were still plenty of other changes, major or otherwise, that had ended up unfolding. But all those were most certainly stories for another time. And so far, five years later, the world was still in a surprisingly viable state; albeit still with plenty of chaos and order to go around.

"I'm still surprised that the shrimp Coby became an admiral," Zorro stated.

"I can certainly say he hasn't gone crazy yet," Nami admitted. "And who knows how long the Marines stay as reasonable as they currently are before _someone_ crazy and more in line to the absolute justice way of thinking comes along and starts messing things up again. Hell, from the research I've made since his death, Akainu actually had a son. And that son should be about 17 years old now. That in mind, I have a feeling we'd _really_ hate to see what would happen if _he_ were to end up joining the Marines at any point."

"Forget the Marines," Robin stated. She shuddered. "Think about the World Government. Who knows how long it could take before the New World Government becomes potentially at risk of becoming more similar to what it replaced."

"Maybe things we'll go back to the way they were someday. Maybe they won't."

The Straw Hats all looked to Luffy, who nodded his head. "Like I said to Imu that day. Change is inevitable. It may be for the worst as currently appears to be feared. Or it may very well be for the better." He nodded again. "But you know what I think?" He looked back to the sunset, warm smile on his face. "I say that for now, we remain thankful for the way things currently are. I'm not really sure if I'd say I care that much about world peace and all that other stuff that my dad and the revolutionaries were worrying about. But upside down or not, the world's turning out quite well for just about everyone on all sides. And I'm sure plenty of you will agree that it's a lot better now than it used to be."

He turned around to face his 8 friends once more. "But regardless, for now, I say we just keep enjoying and appreciating it as is. Regardless of whether it becomes better later, or worse later, there's nothing to gain from wasting all of our time worrying about what might happen. So for now, I say we just keep enjoying the way things are now. If the amount of time we have to do so gets longer, all the better for us. And if it ends, then at least now all we'll have to do is hopefully jus weather it out until the next opportunity. But until such a time as either possibility, why not enjoy the now?"

"Luffy," Nami said, a warm look of joy on her face.

"Hmm," Zorro hummed, nodding his head up and down with an approving look of respect on his face. "I'll admit, very well said."

"Couldn't have said any of that better myself," said Chopper.

"I would say that I could have perhaps said all that even better and more gloriously," Usopp began. "But you know what? I think you deserve this moment captain."

"That was beautiful," said Brook.

"I'll say," said Franky. "Even after all that's happened since we found the One Piece, I never would have guessed you'd have it in you to say such super grand and super-duper intelligent like speeches Luffy bro! Ow!"

"It's moments like these that really make me wonder if your direct physical exposure to the One Piece and all the haki in it managed to somehow boost your intelligence," said Robin, a warm smile of her own on her serene face.

"Indeed." Sanji thought to himself. "I'll admit, still not entirely sure I'm a fan of that."

"What was that Sanji?"

At the sound of the seemingly calm and happy, yet with a slight edge of tension, tone in Nami's voice, Sanji sweat dropped, directed a nervous smile at the Straw Hat navigator, who had an almost evil looking smile on her face. "Nothing," he quickly stated. He cleared his throat, 'dusted off' the jacket of his suit, and nodded his head. "Nothing at all."

"Thought so."

Nami nodded her head, and then walked up to Luffy's side. "Because you know what? Regardless of how unexpectedly smart as he occasionally shows himself to be nowadays after all our adventures, he's still our captain. Still our friend. Still our Luffy."

She then grabbed onto Luffy's left hand with her right hand, rubbing her left hand against her belly; her _very_ large belly. "And I couldn't be happier," she then said as she and her captain stared each other lovingly in each other's faces.

Yes. Nami was now in fact Pirate Queen, happily married to Luffy after a single year of dating, and two whole years counting that following the end of their quest for the One Piece. And right this very moment, a full five years after their finding the One Piece, four years after they'd first finally become an official couple, and only three years after their marriage, Nami was expecting a prince.

Luffy and Nami continued to look into each other's eyes, the rest of the Straw Hats present, surprisingly including Sanji, also looking fondly at their king and queen. Even now, they all had to admit, when they all really put their minds to it, the fact that their captain and navigator had ended up falling in love with each other really hadn't been a surprise to any of them. What _had_ surprised them, however, was that it had ended up taking as long as it had for them to even both mutually realize the fact, let alone officially become a couple and start dating.

But after a single year following the successful finding of the One Piece, Luffy had managed, after carefully thinking everything over and also finally becoming even remotely interested in romance and dating, to finally realize that, contrary to what he'd initially thought despite his knowing quite well what romantic love actually was, he was in fact in love with Nami, and had been in love with her ever since the first time he'd ever seen her; which, much to Nami's own surprise, had not been that time he'd actually first spoken to her at Orange Town, but instead a single almost impossibly brief moment at the very start of his journey when they'd managed to catch a glimpse of each other and lock eyes when they'd both been separately departing from what had then been the ship of the then nightmarishly ugly and fat 'Iron Mace' Alvida. And once Luffy had finally managed, in a surprisingly well thought out and spoken speech, to reveal to Nami how he felt one beautiful night at Nami's hometown of Cocoyashi Village, Nami had finally dared to let Luffy be made aware of her own reciprocation for those feelings. And from there, they'd finally started dating after four straight years of being silently in love with each other.

But even after they'd started dating, they'd still managed to shock the rest of their crew, and the world, literally a single year, down to the exact same day, after they'd finally become an official couple, when Luffy had managed, during a visit to Luffy's hometown following the Straw Hats finally finishing their trip around the world to allow Nami to properly redo and complete her entire long dreamed map of the entire world, to propose to her. And of course, in what the rest of the Straw Hats occasionally found themselves ruefully feeling shouldn't have been so surprising to them in hindsight as it had somehow ended up being to them at the time, Nami had said yes.

And literally a single month after the proposal, Luffy and Nami had married in a surprisingly lavish, yet still relatively simple, wedding ceremony in front of the entire rest of their crew, as well as multiple other friends and family members that they had available to see the big day, and even a few marines that had been convinced by Garp, Coby, and at least one or two other notable marines who had reason to trust the Straw Hats. Luffy's father Dragon had even later revealed in a letter in the mail that he'd watched the whole ceremony vicariously from a far off distance. And Shanks had even been the one Luffy had chosen to have officiate the ceremony while also inviting him as a guest. And surprisingly, with the exception of Boa Hancock not lasting an entire minute after the beginning of the ceremony before ending up having to be 'abducted', carried a full 10 miles away from where the ceremony was occurring, and forced to be absent for the entire remainder of the wedding by her sisters, the whole thing had unfolded without any problems.

And now, a full 5 years after Luffy had found the One Piece and become Pirate King as he'd always wanted, he and Nami were still happily married, still very much in love, and now finally expecting their first child, who Chopper currently predicted would be due for birth potentially as early as the first day of the very next month. And they couldn't be happier for it. And neither could the rest of their crew. And the fact that, with the obvious exceptions of Brook and Jinbei, as well as the current also remaining exception of Chopper, the rest of the crew had all at least gotten married, if not done both that _and_ had a kid or two of their own in the time that had unfolded between their discovery of the One Piece and this current moment certainly helped.

In that moment, Luffy briefly placed his hand on his wife's belly, smiling in the process when he felt the unborn child still inside her react by kicking. Nami chuckled as well. "You do realize we still have to name him, right?" Nami asked.

"Shishishi," Luffy chuckled, nodding his head with his smile still on his face. "Don't you worry Nami. I already know the perfect name for him. In fact, I already know the perfect name for all three."

Nami chuckled, raising her eyebrow in the process. "You seem awfully confident that we'll be having three kids instead of just this single one we've currently got on the way."

Robin chuckled, a teasing look on her face. "And yet I don't hear you outright denying that you'll have three kids _or_ only one."

Nami rolled her eyes at Robin, and then smiled back at Luffy once more.

Robin chuckled, and looked over at Luffy. "You know captain," she then said. "I'm still surprised that Franky and I beat you and Nami to the altar."

"What can I say?"

Luffy chuckled, and shook his head side to side before directing a bemused look at his crew's scholar and shipwright. "You're both in your 30s, obviously a whole lot older than me. It would only make sense for you to get to that state before Nami and me." Then he raised his eyebrow as he thought of another detail. "Though I will admit, I wasn't expecting you two to already have three kids before Nami and I had even had _one_."

Franky raised his eyebrow in amusement at Luffy's latest comment. "You got a problem with that bro?"

"Nope," Luffy quickly, yet nonchalantly, responded. "None at all. Though I do hope you don't have too many more, if any, within the next few years. I'd really wouldn't want to put Nami through all this too many times just to catch up with you."

"Who said it had to be a competition?" Robin asked.

"Well I am the captain," Luffy stated, a cheeky grin on his face as he let the implication sink in.

Nami blushed, and then lightly punched him in the side of the head. "Idiot," she hissed, half in irritation and half in loving amusement.

"Ow," Luffy said in a monotone voice once his head and neck had retracted back to their natural position following Nami's blow.

The rest of the crew promptly laughed, shaking their heads side to side in amusement. Even now, their captain still couldn't stop himself from ending up on the receiving end of one of Nami's famous megaton punches. And of course, thanks to her always unconsciously packing a tiny bit of haki into her blows without even realizing it, her blows always managed to successfully hurt the captain, though not _too_ badly.

Sanji sighed in contentment, and then nodded his head. "Well I for one hope it doesn't become a contest between all of us. After all, Viola's already plenty tired out from giving birth to Camille last month, and I'd _really_ rather not have to put her through another kid so soon. And that's without considering how Brook would automatically be disqualified."

"HEY!"

The Straw Hats laughed, the skeleton musician shaking his head with a look of annoyance directed at the chef. "Not funny."

Eventually, they all stopped laughing and got back to a good mood, Sanji in particular smiling gleefully at the thought of his newborn daughter. Even though she was so far still about a single month old, she was already showing signs of potentially taking a lot after him in physical appearance when she got older. She certainly already had his fair skin and blonde hair. But she'd also inherited Viola's distinctive dark brown eyes. And from what they'd both been able to observe, she'd already seemed in her immensely young age to already take interest in both watching her father cook as well as watching her mother do flamenco dancing. Sanji sighed in contentment, and rubbed his hand through the hair on the back of his head. "I will admit, I'm really looking forward to seeing how my precious little angel turns out to be once she's old enough to perhaps be able to learn how to cook, not to mention perhaps maybe end up joining a crew."

Robin and Nami raised their eyebrows. "Who said anything about our kids joining any pirate crews?" Nami asked.

"Well when you really think about it, it would only make sense," said Luffy. "I mean, we _are_ pirates. It would only make sense for our kids to perhaps take an interest in joining up with us. And who knows, maybe they'll all end up forming their own crews together." He smiled towards Nami's belly. "I can already imagine Shanks, Belle, and Ace forming a crew together, if not each forming their own individual crews."

Nami whistled silently. "You certainly weren't kidding when you said you'd thought up names for all of our possible three kids." She then let a smile come on her face. "I will admit though, I do really like your choices." She then let a happy tear slide down her cheek. "Especially the second one."

"Well I for one, certainly wouldn't be at all surprised if my little boy ends up following in my footsteps."

Zorro nodded his head as he thought of his son he and his wife, the now semi-retired marine Tashigi, who just happened to be very distantly related to his late childhood friend Kuina, and also looked almost exactly like her to despite her direct relation to the latter being tangential at best at this point, had just had the previous year. He smiled again as he thought of the message he'd received earlier that morning from Tashigi, who was currently back in Shimotsuki Village with their now one-year old son, named Riku, in which she'd described how Riku, who already looked a lot like him, but with Tashigi's eyes, was very slowly seeming to develop a slight interest in sword fighting.

"Though as far as having any additional kids after Riku goes," Zorro continued, a slight wince now coming on his face. "I think I'll wait till much later this year, if not early next year, before I put another kid inside her." He shuddered as he remembered just how almost nightmarish Tashigi had been while pregnant with Riku. He _definitely_ wished to give himself as much time to prepare as possible before going through _that_ a 2nd time.

"I know what you mean," Sanji agreed, nodding his head somberly as he remembered how Viola had been incredibly emotionally taxed by her own pregnancy with Camille. "In fact, I think I'll maybe wait till the year after next year before Viola and I try to give Camille a sibling." He directed a withering side glare towards Riku. "Though I will say this, I certainly hope neither my precious baby girl, nor any siblings she may have, end up on the same crew as your marimo son."

"That's funny," Zorro hissed, directing a side glare of his own towards Sanji. "Because I very much hope that neither my boy, nor any possible siblings he may have, end up on the same crew as your crap-head daughter."

"What was that marimo?!" Sanji growled.

"You heard me shit chef," Zorro snarled.

The two rivals glared sparks at each other and growled, seconds away from breaking out into a fight.

"BOYS!"

Zorro and Sanji both blanched, briefly looked in the direction of a now awfully angry looking Nami, and then promptly straightened back up, looked away from each other, and worked to calm down, with Zorro folding his arms across his chest and looking straight ahead while Sanji started engaging in some suspiciously stereotypical 'innocent whistling'. Nami facepalmed, sighing heavily. While Zorro and Sanji were both men she considered good friends, sometimes their antics just drove her up the wall almost as much as her husband had a tendency of doing.

"Well regardless of whose crew they end up on," Luffy stated, a smile on his face. "I'm sure they'll all make good friends, especially with me and Nami's kids." He looked at the rest of the crew. "Not to mention with your kids."

The rest of the Straw Hats agreed.

"I'm sure that our son and daughters would very much appreciate being friends with your kids captain san," said Robin. She looked to the rest of her crew mates. "And with all of yours."

Franky chuckled, a smile on his face as he joined his wife in thoughts about their now three year-old daughter Olvia and almost fully single-year old twin son and daughter Damon and Angela. "I can definitely agree on that! Our little Damon and Angela will almost certainly be super good friends with all your kids, not to mention so will Olvia."

Usopp chuckled weakly, only now realizing that, of the Straw Hats who'd married so far, he was the only one who still didn't have any kids yet. Granted, his wife Kaya was currently expecting a child, but she was still nowhere near far enough long to be giving birth any time before much later this year. "I'm sure any kids I have will do the same," he managed to say in a rather meek sounding tone.

Brook chuckled. "Well I for one will always make sure to be a very devoting 'uncle' to all of your kids, no matter how many you have or whose crews they join."

"Couldn't ask for anything more skeleton bro," said Franky.

The other Straw Hats all chuckled in agreement.

"You know," said Chopper, a half thoughtful and half regretful look coming onto his furry face. "I'm honestly kinda starting to feel a little left out."

"Well you've still got time," said Nami, chuckling as she looked at the now slightly pouting reindeer doctor. "Hurry up and go get yourself hooked up with Milky!"

"Or maybe Carrot for that matter," said Sanji. At this point, he directed a very cheeky grin towards the now suddenly immensely blushing reindeer. "Yeah, don't think I haven't seen the way she's been looking at you lately. Trust me, ever since you started having your brain point form incorporate a lot more elements of your physical appearance from the form you're currently in right now, that feisty little rabbit mink's been looking as if she's been _really_ liking what she's been seeing in you."

Now quite flustered, Chopper briefly assumed his heavy point form and pointed threateningly at Sanji; or at least, it was _supposed_ to be threatening. But with the very flustered and embarrassed look on Chopper's face, it looked pathetic and hilarious instead. "H…h…hey…now!" The reindeer doctor stammered. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here!"

The rest of the Straw Hats burst out laughing at their doctor's flustered reaction.

"I'm sure that whichever mink woman you end up with will be right for you as long as you're both happy," said Robin.

In a flash, Chopper assumed his brain point, which indeed now looked like a humanoid form of his walk point at his current age, hopped upright onto his hind legs, and started doing his happy dance. "Stop joking around!" He yelled as he did so. "You liking me doesn't make me the least bit happy you jerks!"

The rest of the Straw Hats started laughing, with Chopper himself joining in once he'd finished his happy dance. The reindeer chuckled, and nodded his head as he smiled happily at his friends. "I do wonder though, depending on just who, if anyone, I mate with, it might be pretty difficult to have any kids the way you guys have."

"You could always adopt," said Zorro.

Sanji glared, seconds away from making a retort.

"Hmm," said Chopper. "That could actually work as well."

Sanji directed a confused, yet also interested, look at Chopper, who nodded his head. "I will admit, it really did feel nice when Dr. Hiriluk took me in after my old herd drove me out. And when I really think about it, he did kind of become a father to me, and it was basically like he'd adopted me." He nodded his head again, a warm smile starting to come on his face. "I suppose it would only make sense then, if I'm unable to have kids the usual way, for me to allow another parentless child to feel the same joy of having a loving adoptive family as I did when Dr. Hiriluk did the same for me."

"Well," Sanji said, a smile on his own face. "I suppose when you put it that way, I don't see any problem with it either."

The rest of the Straw Hats nodded, Zorro letting a smug smirk come on his face at how Sanji had effectively been prevented from having another go at him, though he quickly got rid of it before the cook could see it.

"Well I'll just say this, just to get back to an earlier topic."

Robin nodded her head. "Despite what our captain may or may not have implied, we are most definitely not in a competition over how many kids we end up bringing into our little screwed up family. Trust me, Franky and I have both agreed now that we're done."

"Indeed," Franky agreed, nodding his head and allowing his bright blue hair to briefly seem to glow in the light of the setting sun. "Ow!"

"Well that's good," said Zorro. "Because I'm planning to stop at two. And for that matter, I really hope that once Riku gets a sibling, that the sibling is a girl." He let a warm smile come on his face. "That way, I'll get to name her Kuina."

"Oh, how sweet," said Nami.

Zorro chuckled. "What can I say? It would only be right. And besides, Luffy's planning for him and you to name your daughter after your late mom. Why should I not name my own daughter after my late friend?"

"I'll definitely stop at two myself," Sanji broke in. "Though with what you guys have now brought up, I really wish that I had someone important that I could honor in the event that I have a son."

"I'm sure you'll still find a good name, regardless," said Nami.

"Thanks Nami," Sanji said, a happy smile of companionship on his face.

"Well while we're still on this subject, I'm game for having strictly two kids myself, ideally a son and daughter."

Usopp nodded his head, a smile on his face and his thumb raised. "I'm sure Kaya won't have any complaint over that."

The crew all looked at Chopper as if silently asking how many kids he wished to have.

"Um," the reindeer thought to himself. Then he shook his head. "You know what? I'd rather not risk counting my chickens before they hatch."

The humans amongst the crew thought to themselves, and then nodded their heads. "I suppose that's fair," Luffy admitted.

"Well regardless of how many young pirates end up joining our family, I'll happily love them with all my heart. Oh but wait, I don't have a heart! Yohohoho! Skull joke!"

The rest of the crew rolled their eyes. But then they all heard a noise coming from Robin's pocket.

"Badup badup badup badup badup."

The rest of the crew all looked to Robin. Clearly, someone was calling on her baby den.

"Probably Jinbei," said Robin as he drew out the tiny snail in her pocket that was currently ringing. "Best see what he wants."

"Good idea," Franky agreed. After all, as the cyborg now found himself very much remembering, the former warlord turned Straw Hat helmsman was now currently back on the Thousand Sunny babysitting the three young Nico family children.

Robin accepted the call. "Ku-lick," went the baby snail as the call was answered.

Robin turned the snail's shell around to allow it to easily be heard by everyone present. "Hello Jinbei," said Robin. "Is there a problem?"

"I know I promised not to interrupt your time watching the sunset," came the whale shark fishman's voice from the other end of the line. "But could you and the others please come back to the ship? I could really use your help right about now, or ten minutes ago if you can make it."

"What's the problem fish bro?" Franky asked.

"Well for starters, your twins won't stop crying, and I don't know why. And believe me, I've considered and checked all options."

"Ugh," Zorro grunted.

"Did not need to know that," Sanji agreed.

"You said it," said Usopp. He pressed his fingers against his nose as he found himself unwittingly thinking about a certain particularly nasty smell that came with raising a kid in their earliest years of life. He had to admit, as much as he hoped to someday have kids of his own, the element that Jinbei had just now caused him to unwittingly think about was _not_ something he was looking forward to. "Ew."

"And also, Olvia told me to tell you that she's lost her teddy again. And before some wise ass amongst you tells me to look in the kitchen again, I've already looked there thrice now. And unlike the last few times she's lost her teddy this evening, I can assure you, it's not in there this time."

"Don't you worry," said Robin. "We're on our way, and we'll be back at the ship as fast as possible. I promise you that."

"Good," Jinbei responded. "I'll hold you to that."

Robin hung up the baby den. "Come on everyone. Let's get back to the ship."

"Yeah," Franky agreed. "And let's be quick about it, before Jinbei ends up finishing the Beast Pirates' work for them in his efforts to find Olvia's teddy!"

"Agreed," Zorro and Sanji stated in unison, the rest of the crew quick to agree.

And just like that, the Straw Hats hurried off to take part in their latest adventure in a long line of crazy antics. And as this happened, they all still very much had the possibility of both future adventures of their own as well as possible adventures that their kids would perhaps go on when they inevitably became pirates themselves. Perhaps they'd even find the once again hidden One Piece! It was certainly a possibility.

Little did the Straw Hats realize, however, just how right they all were in their current thoughts. For while Luffy had indeed managed to start a 3rd grand era of piracy thanks to his finding the One Piece as well as all the subsequent chaos he'd helped set in motion afterward, it would be his three kids, plus their respective future crews, who would come to further define the very age of piracy that their father had initiated. Five years had passed since the day Luffy had found the One Piece himself, and the age of piracy he'd ended up starting as a result was very much in effect. But even with that being the case, that same new age had still barely even begun. It wouldn't be until Luffy's own three children finally became pirates themselves and set out on their own grand and exciting adventures that this new age would truly start to come in effect to the fullest. But that day would come sooner or later, as inevitable as any change. And when that day finally came, it would truly be the dawn of a new age.

**The End**

**And just like that, here we are! I hope you all enjoyed what I have to offer here! I also hope you leave plenty of feedback! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask via review or PM so that I can hopefully answer ^_^. And I also hope very much that, in the event that I truly am lucky enough to successfully write my planned next gen One Piece stories, you'll all be willing to read and review them now that I've shown you a hint of what could possibly come later thanks to this here oneshot ^_^. All in all, hope you had fun, and that I'll see you all again later! Shishishi.**


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